Assembled Family
by ImaginIsa
Summary: The Avengers are good at saving the world...but they need a little bit of work when it comes to being parents. Even if it is only for a few short months. But any adult would find it difficult to be a parents to a children with a mutant x-gene, especially when they have never been given a reason to trust anyone my each other...
1. The First of Many Battles

Assembled Family

Author's Note:  
In the original comics the Avengers and the X-men live in the same world - sometime fighting together and sometimes against each other but they always end up saving the world. In this new universe with the Avengers set in 2014, where are the x-men? Anyone who has seen Captain America 2 and Agents of SHIELD knows that some characters are being pulled in with slightly different stories. So what if we were to take our favorite x-men and tweak their stories just a little? :)  
Here is my version of the teenage and child mutants learning to live with their powers and the Avengers learning how to be parents.  
I own none of the characters except for 2 OC characters that I based off original X-men. I have changed and combined origin stories (quite a lot for some x-men.) The Avengers are canon with the new movies. Set after Thor 2 but before Captain America 2 (because I'm not dealing…spoiler alert, I'll stop.) Will probably use villains from Captain America 2. (So maybe some spoilers, not quite sure yet.)  
Read, review, and enjoy.

Prologue:

"Do you believe in fate?"  
Tony Stark looked at the speaker - a girl on the brink of womanhood standing on roof of the tower formerly known as Stark tower. She was looking out over the skyline of New York, playing with something on a silver chain around her neck. Playing with the miniature arc reactor her had given her as a gift.  
"Maybe," he replied.  
"That's a noncommittal answer," she said.  
"Maybe I'm a noncommittal kind of guy," Tony told her, he cracked a smile, "Just ask Pepper."  
"You have to be committed to some things," she replied quietly. Twisting, twisting the chain around her fingers.  
Tony frowned. "What's wrong little Spark?"  
"I...I don't think we can stay," Spark told him.  
Tony's frown deepened, "Why not?"  
Spark turned to face him, her dark brown eyes sad, "Because Fury is going to kill us if we do."

-  
Chapter 1: The First Battle of Many Other Battles that will occur

Los Angeles, 6 months earlier

Tony Stark let out a muffled groan as he was thrown backwards into the skyscraper. He was wearing his Iron Man suit but it hurt to get thrown clear across 3 blocks.  
"How are the systems, Jarvis?" He asked as he flew back up into the air and surveyed the damage to the city below.  
"Energy levels are dropping sir but still above critical," the AL replied in his perpetually calm voice. "But the damage to the city..."  
"I know," he cut the computer off before activating the com. "Hey Captain, we've got to get these things out of the city."  
"I know!" Captain Steve Rogers sounded more frustrated than Tony had ever heard. "But there are too many of them!"  
"It's New York all over again," Col. James Rhodes, grunted over his own intercom. "Except this time you have more help..."  
"The help isn't helping, Rhodey," Tony told his oldest friend. The site below him was grim - despite all the Avengers and backup from the Iron Patriot and SHIELD they were losing the battle. These creatures from deep space not only fly around on their little laser-blaster equipped flying speeders - they were also the owners of scientific gadgets that Tony was itching to take apart. But the damn things enabled them to have force fields. So far, the only thing that could penetrate them was...  
"Take heed!" Thor boomed as he sent his hammer hurtling towards some of the creatures that were sneaking up on Tony. The hammer bounced off the force field - useless - but the lightning it had carried electrocuted the field and the creature inside and the flying speeder plummeted to earth, it's lone pilot dead.  
"Thanks, Thor," Tony called.

"You are very welcome. But be wary, they are learning our fighting style!" Thor called as he chased after another group.  
"We need them together so their force fields will short out!" Natasha Romanov called over the intercom.  
"What do you mean, Nat?" Asked Clint Barton. He sounded exhausted.  
"Phil's team figured something out," Natasha said. There was a slight crackle as Agent Coulson's computer protégée, Skye, cut in, "The force fields are giving off a massive amount of energy. We don't know what it is but we can tell that each force field operates on a specific frequency. Get enough of them together and they'll stop working."  
"That's not exactly what..." Tony heard a voice in the background say.  
"It's a good enough explanation, Fitz!" Skye told her team mate, "We don't have time..."  
Captain America cut off the SHIELD team's argument, "Everyone, try to get them to the outskirts of the city. Stark, give us coordinates."  
"On it," Tony said, setting Jarvis scanning the city for the area with the most creatures.  
"I'll try to get Banner to smash in the general direction," Steve finished, "Good luck everyone."  
"Transmitting coordinates to all units now," Iron Man was heard saying on all radio frequencies, "All citizens are advised to clear the area..."

Down below in the city, a slight teenage boy with sandy brown hair and startling blue eyes heard Iron Man's transmission. He pressed a few keys on his computer and waited for the coordinates to come up - easily hacking into SHIELD's secure comm. He stared at the coordinates and then did a quick Google-maps search just to be sure.  
"Damn," he breathed. He slammed shut the laptop and carefully picked his way across the floor littered with broken glass. As per his custom, he was barefoot and his large feet with the opposable thumbs gripped every broken slab and large debris carefully. It was easy for him to traverse the room filled with broken beams with his tough ape-like feet - thick enough that the glass didn't even pierce the skin. As he crossed the room, the debris gave way to blocks of ice and the walls became charred and covered in ash. The young man pushed his thin wire-frame glasses back onto his nose and called, "Guys! We've got to get out of here!"  
There was a rustle and a small girl of about ten years old with grey eyes like storm clouds and black hair like the night came out from behind a broken wall. She carefully walked around the smoking and frozen body of one of the alien creatures and told the boy worriedly, "But they said to stay here! How will the others find us?"  
A sort of scratching noise followed this and a trail of ice appeared on the ground. Another boy, slid across the ice with practiced ease and stop in front of them. He also had blue eyes - but his were the color of a clear winter sky and his hair was so blonde it was an almost blinding white. "What's wrong, Beast?" He asked the first boy. "We took care of the things."  
"I think the correct term is ET," another male voice said snidely. The third boy had just rounded the corner. He was playing with a lighter and his clothes were so charred they were almost as black as his dark skin.  
Beast pushed his glasses back up nervously, "The Avengers are drawing the aliens away from downtown and are going to electrocute them all-"  
"That's a good thing," the little girl said passionately.  
"But they're going to do it here!" Beast finished.  
"What do you mean here?" The soot-covered boy demanded.  
A large crash and angry roar from outside answered him.  
"That's the Hulk," the little girl whispered, terrified.  
"Run!" shouted Beast. The white-haired boy scooped up the little girl and slid across his patch of ice, trying to get out of the building. His friends ran behind him. They were almost out when a very angry Hulk was thrown through the wall and landed right in front of them. The little girl screamed as the green monster turned to glare at them. Thunder booming outside drowned out the Hulk's responsive roar.

Meanwhile, Special Agent Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, was limping across roofs to get to the meeting point. About three of those things were tracking him and he knew from experience that all of his arrows - even the exploding ones - would be useless against that damn force field. All that did was blast him back a couple hundred feet, and he now had a badly sprained ankle to deal with. The alien sent a volley of laser-like fire towards him and he narrowly avoided being fried.  
"Come on," he hissed to himself, dragging his leg stubbornly, "Almost there." He took a running start that more closely resembled hopping on one leg and launched himself across a gap in the roofs. He would have made it to the neighboring building no problem - but one of the aliens fired again and destroyed his landing spot. Hawkeye remained calm as he twisted in the air so that he was facing the sky and reached back for one of his rappel arrows. He'd done the move hundreds of times; shooting a safety line to a nearby roof and swinging to safety. But this time, his hand met empty air. Too late he remembered that he had already used all of those arrows hopping from roof to roof escaping the creatures.  
Both Tony and Thor were too far away to come help him.  
There was nothing to do.  
Clint Barton plummeted to the air, watching his life flash before his eyes. Birthday parties with his family, being recruited by SHIELD, meeting Natasha for the first time.  
"I'm sorry, Nat," he whispered. He closed his eyes and waited for the ground.

Only to feel surprisingly strong arms scoop him up from behind. Clint's eyes snapped open and he looked down to see the shadow of wings mixed with his own wavering shadow on the ground below.  
There was the sound of the aliens shooting and a surprisingly young voice gasped in his ear. The flight path changed and they crashed landed onto the partially destroyed roof. Clint rolled and got back onto his feet in one fluid motion, drawing an arrow as he stood.  
What he saw shocked him.  
A young boy of about nineteen was kneeling on the roof. His blonde hair was messy, his green eyes clouded in pain, yet his mouth set into a defiant line as he met Clint's gaze. But that wasn't what shocked the assassin-spy. It was the huge white wings on the boy's back. Albeit, right now, one had a burnt and black spot from the alien's laser. Clint and the boy stared at each other and suddenly Clint shot his drawn arrow. The boy winced; ducking down his head and closing his eyes, but the arrow zipped harmlessly past his head and exploded just close enough to another alien to make him change his flight path and to go careening into one of his allies. The two out-of-control crafts plummeted into the side of the already weak building and the whole thing began to rock. Clint looked at his savior, "Can you fly with a busted wing?" He asked.  
The boy looked surprised but then a fierce and happy smile flashed across his face. "Can you fight with a busted leg?" He responded. Clint grinned and replied, "Run." The structure beneath them began to collapse as Agent Barton ran to the edge of the building and jumped off. But this time, he jumped towards the phone line connecting two nearby buildings and used his bow to hook onto it and slide across - like a child on a very dangerous jungle gym.  
The teen snapped open his wings and glided down beside him - keeping his burnt wing steady despite the pain that Clint noticed flashed across his face. Another alien creature began shooting at them and the phone line began to fray, throwing dangerous sparks of electricity across its surface. Clint could see the square that Tony had told him to get to - but he was still too high off the ground. It was get electrocuted, fall to his death, or...  
"Kid!" Agent Barton shouted as he let go of his bow with one hand and let himself fall.  
It was the stupidest thing he'd ever done. Trusting not only a stranger, but a boy, with his life. And on top of that those wings...Clint had heard about the "enhanced humans" SHIELD has begun to find and track but this...  
And yet, Clint found himself once again plummeting to the ground. The boy once again grabbed him from behind and they glided unsteadily to the ground besides a very confused Agent Phil Coulson.  
"Who...?" The SHIELD agent began.  
"No time," Clint cut him off, "where...?"  
A piercing scream and the Hulk's roar cut him off.  
"Storm!" Shouted the winged boy spinning around to search for the source of the sound. Thunder boomed overhead and it began to pour.  
"Stop the rain, Thor!" Clint shouted over the comm.  
"I am not the cause of this," Thor replied over the communicator.  
Clint felt a chill go down his spine, and Phil grabbed the mysterious boy's shoulder. "How many are with you?" The agent demanded.  
The boy swallowed hard. But then Hulk came crashing into the square with more random kids and the aliens descended and Phil never got an answer.

Captain America was outnumbered. He could fight many men at once; but these weren't men; and these were just too many. And with those force-fields around them...  
One of the creatures caught his shield and they surrounded him. The clacking noise they made to each other sounded like laughter. Steve Rogers prepared to fight to the end - but then there was a bright red light that consumed two of the creatures and they were burned to cinders. The creatures were thrown into a frenzy, and something almost too fast to see zipped passed one of the aliens before it was able to put up its shield. A thin gangly boy that had silver spiky hair with the tips dyed black stood before Steve with the Captain America shield extended towards him. Steve took it - and it was barely in his hand before the boy zipped away, becoming a blur that charged one of the aliens and ripped something off the flying speeder. He ran so fast that the creature had no time to activate its force field. The alien clacked angrily as it found his force-field disabled and then shrieked as it was impaled by eight spikes. It fell over dead, and Steve Rogers found himself looking at a well-muscled boy with his hair combed into two clumps on either side of his head like wolf-ears...but more importantly he had bone claws protruding from his hands. Captain America saw another alien charging him from the corner of his eye and rolled out of the way. Another burst of red light reduced that alien to ashes too. This time, Steve pin-pointed the laser-like light as coming from the street corner - where yet another young man was standing. He was unremarkable in appearance - tall and toned with rather drab brown hair - but he was wearing bright red sunglasses. Steve watched him out of the corner of his eye as he fought another alien whose force-field had been disabled. Steve saw the boy take off the glasses and douse another alien in the red-lasers that came shooting out of his eyes.  
With the help of the three young men, most of the aliens were soon dead and the others rose high into the air and flew away.  
There was a strange sort of sliding noise - like wood rubbing wood - and the clawed-boy retraced the bone appendages. As Captain America watched, the open wounds on his hand healed, not even a scar was left. An explosion nearby reminded the soldier where he was and he told the youths, "Thank you for your help, but you better get out of here."  
"Not everyone is out yet," Red-sunglasses said.  
"What do you mean?" Demanded Steve. The sound of a metal door being raised was his reply, and he turned to see a door to an underground garage being raised. As soon as it was four feet off the ground, people began running out. Homeless men and women, some with children, all with limited belongings ran out. Many stopped to thank Captain America as they fled. Steve replied graciously, albeit a bit distractedly as he realized that the door was being raised by a young girl with black hair with bright red tips - except she was doing it with her mind. There was not a doubt in his own mind that this was what was occurring: the look of concentration on her face, the way that her hair was starting to lift as well, and the way her pupils has grown to consume all of the color in her eyes - so he was looking into two dark black pits.  
Another young woman came running out; on her back clung a little girl with bright red hair.  
"That's everyone, Captain!" She shouted to Steve Rogers.  
"Good," he replied, the name Captain instantly recalled him to the situation, "You kids better get out of here I..."  
"Move!" The little girl suddenly shrieked. But Steve didn't even have time to process the command before the alien creatures shot down the building above the garage. The girl lifting the door screamed and flung up her arms as the building collapsed around her. Instinctively, Captain America ran up the side of the building and used his momentum to land between the two other girls and the debris; he forced them to the ground and covered them with his shield as rubble rained down around them.  
Steve heard the boys coughing around him and one of them shouted, "Scarlet! Scarlet! Damn it, Scar, answer me! Are you okay?" Steve looked up and saw that strange blur, and suddenly the boy with the silver hair was trying to move the rubble, still shouting for the girl.  
"Quicksilver, stop!" Red-sunglasses shouted between coughs, "You can collapse it on her!"  
"We need to get her out!" Quicksilver shouted back frantically.  
"Thor!" Steve called into his comm, "Get over here now! A child is in danger!"  
Thor didn't reply but landed in their midst. Steve ran to join him next to the rubble. Steve got ready to lift and looked at Quicksilver, "As soon as you see her, run in and get her - but not until I say, understand?"  
The boy didn't reply.  
"Understand, son?" Steve demanded, yet gently.  
Quicksilver's head snapped up and he regarded Steve with something like suspicion before his worry about the girl overcame any reservation and he nodded.  
"Lift!" Steve shouted and he and Thor began shifting heavy beams and boulders. Hulk roared in the background and it began to rain.  
"Stop the rain, Thor!" Agent Phil Coulson shouted over the comm.  
"I am not the cause of this," Thor replied as he shifted more debris. Suddenly another pair of hands joined theirs as the boy with the claws joined them, claws retracted and skin healed. Quicksilver and Red-sunglasses joined also while the older girl kept the little one back.  
"Four feet in on the left," a male voice said suddenly. Steve and Thor turned to see yet another boy, this one with thick, curly brown hair approaching. The three other young men instantly shifted where they were digging and Thor did as well. Steve examined the boy for a second longer before he too changed where he was looking and a few second later.  
"I found her!" Thor boomed. Steve lifted one more beam and revealed the girl lying there unconscious.  
"Now!" He shouted at Quicksilver. The boy sped in and back out, carrying her in his arms and the two Avengers let the beams fall.  
Steve turned to tell them about getting to safety and hospitals but then Hulk came crashing through the street, hot on the tail of even more aliens.  
"Duck!" Shouted the latest newcomer and everyone dropped to the ground as alien laser fire flew just over their heads. Hawkeye and many more kids ran after Hulk with SHIELD agents right behind them.  
"Coordinates a bit off guys but I'm bringing in the party!" Iron Man's voice crackled in over the comm.  
"No!" Steve shouted, "We've got civilians here!" But it was too late, both Iron Man and The Iron Patriot flew in with every alien left in the city right behind them. The rain's intensity increased and Thor roared a battle-cry as he shot lightning at one of the creatures. It was electrocuted and then shot down by one of Hawkeye's arrows. But it was only one. All the Avengers and there back-up began fighting for their lives.  
But there were so many.  
And all those teenagers backed away towards the buildings, watching the sky with wide worried eyes.

"Spark!" The brown-haired newcomer shouted at the oldest girl, "Electricity! Electrocute them!"  
"I can't do that many!" She shouted back. "I need a power source!"  
"The phone line!" The winged boy shouted back. "It already collapsed!"  
"Might as well," Red-sunglasses said.  
Spark bit her lip and looked around at the partially destroyed square filled with Avengers and aliens.  
"Iron Man!" She shouted, "Mr. Stark! I need the destroyed phone line!"  
The super-hero ignored her, but his computer suddenly said, "Sir, an outside computer source is insisting that I recommend changing path to pull the phone line this way."  
"What the hell are you talking about, Jarvis?" Snapped Tony.  
"I think the boy with the computer sent the message, Sir."  
"Boy..?" Tony spared a glance for the street. One of the boys did have a computer and he was staring intensely up.  
Some inner instinct that had served him well in many battles told Tony to grab that phone line and to grab it now. He looped up, drawing some alien fire away in the process and yanked the ruined phone line off one of the buildings and let it fall into the square.  
Spark ran for the sparking end and Red-sunglasses shouted, "Get clear!"  
"Storm," Spark shouted her eyes on the alien, "Ground one!"  
The little girl with black hair looked up and her eyes turned silver. A strong gust of wind knocked one of the aliens almost to the ground and Spark let out a sound reminiscent of a battle cry, her hands, wrapped around the live electric wire, stretched to the sky. Electricity crackled in the air - making her short curly hair stand on end and sending Tony's suit into a confusing mix of warning lights and beeps. The electricity jumped from alien to alien, sending each craft plummeting to the earth where they were quickly dispatched by a combination of SHIELD and Avengers.  
The last alien was killed and Spark collapsed, only to be caught securely by the boy with Red-sunglasses.  
It was silent. Hulk shrank back into an exhausted Bruce Banner who as quickly clothed by Natasha. She'd come with the other SHIELD agents.  
All the children gravitated together and it became suddenly clear to all the adults that they were all unwashed and thin - sharp cheekbones and ragged clothing was on every child and teen. On top of that, one girl was unconscious, the boy with wings was badly hurt and Spark didn't seem to be able to stand.  
Steve decided to ignore them and sent the SHIELD agents, with Phil Coulson in charge, to go look for civilians and aliens. Rhodes went off the call the US Government. Once it was only the Avengers and the kids, Steve turned to ask who they were and, more importantly, get the injured to a hospital when there was a large cracking noise.  
Natasha drew her gun and fired even as every single youth shouted, "No!"  
The bullet hit a dark skinned boy with cat ears just protruding from his curly black hair. He collapsed with a cry, clutching his stomach and the two other children who had appeared at the noise froze: a girl of about twelve with long blonde hair and a younger boy with vaguely blue skin and horns.

"Watch where you're shooting," the soot covered kid snapped as he went to check on cat-ears.  
"The gunshot..." Said Natasha.  
"I was teleporting," the blue skinned boy whispered, terrified.  
"Who are you?" Tony asked.  
"You all have the mutant X gene, don't you?" Bruce guessed, exhausted from his spree as the Hulk.  
"Yes," red-sunglasses said.  
"And what...?" Began Natasha but Steve cut her off.  
"Enough; you four need a doctor. We can take you to a..."  
"No hospital!" Every single voice shouted.  
"They need help," Steve argued.  
"We rather die," Quicksilver said flatly.  
"Would she?" Clint asked, motioning to the unconscious Scarlet.  
"Yes," Quicksilver replied. His voice left no room for argument.  
"We need to go with them!" The youngest girl, the red-head, suddenly piped up.  
"Phoenix..." Began the white-haired boy.  
"We have too!" She insisted. She began to cry. "We do! We do!"  
All the youths looked at the same boy.  
"X?" Spark asked a bit weakly as she pushed herself to her feet.  
X sighed. "Yeah, we need to go with them."  
"X!" Quicksilver protested.  
"It's better than the alternatives," X interrupted. He met Steve's confused eyes and said firmly, "But no hospital."  
"That can be arranged," said Bruce. One look from him silenced the rest of the Avengers' protests.  
"But tell us who you are, please," Steve said. The uninjured kids looked at each other, and smiled grimly.  
"We're the X-men," X said, "We're the generation with the mutant gene."


	2. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I don't own X-Men or Marvel.

**Chapter 3: Amazing to Fly and other Powers**

_SHIELD Intelligence Report  
Agent: Natasha Romanov  
Code: Black Widow_

_Subject: Mutant children currently under the custody of the Avengers, aka "X-men"_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Cyclops  
Age: ~20  
Abilities: Shoots laser fire out of eyes  
Distinguishing features: none (Stark said that is incorrect since he always wears sunglasses)  
Physical Mutation: none  
DANGER: no control over power_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Spark  
Age: ~18  
Abilities: controls electricity  
Distinguishing features: none (Stark: short hair)  
Physical Mutation: none_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: X  
Age: ~17  
Abilities: reads minds  
Distinguishing features: none (Stark: everyone listens to him)  
Physical Mutation: none  
DANGER: How much does he know?_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Iceman  
Age: ~18  
Abilities: forms and manipulates ice  
Distinguishing features: none (Stark: white hair)  
Physical Mutation: (stark: white hair)_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Wolverine  
Age: unclear  
Abilities: bone claws that come out of hands, heals quickly  
Distinguishing features: none (Stark: his stupid hair)  
Physical Mutation: bone claws  
DANGER? Violent?_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Angel  
Age: ~18  
Abilities: flies  
Distinguishing features: wings (Stark: they call him Angel and he's a guy)  
Physical Mutation: wings_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Beast  
Age: ~16  
Abilities: no supernatural abilities - but is extremely good with technology  
Distinguishing features: his feet  
Physical Mutation: large, ape-like feet that have opposable thumbs and full agility  
DANGER? Hacker_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Pyro  
Age: ~15  
Abilities: controls fire  
Distinguishing features: none  
Physical Mutation: none  
DANGER? Mistrusts everyone_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Quicksilver  
Age: ~16  
Abilities: runs as quickly as the speed of sound  
Distinguishing features: silver hair with black tips (Stark: his hair is cool.)  
Physical Mutation: none_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Scarlet  
Age: ~16  
Abilities: telekinesis  
Distinguishing features: black hair with scarlet tips (Stark: her hair is also cool.)  
Physical Mutation: none  
DANGER: Lack of control_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Panther  
Age: ~13  
Abilities: none  
Distinguishing feature: see physical mutation (Stark: he doesn't talk)  
Physical Mutation: has black cat ears and a tails, as well as green cat-like eyes. Can probably see in the dark._

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Sprite  
Age: ~12  
Abilities: passes through solid materials (Stark: walks through walls.)  
Distinguishing features: none  
Physical Mutation: none_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Storm  
Age: ~8  
Abilities: controls the weather  
Distinguishing features: none  
Physical Mutation: none_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Nightshade  
Age: ~9  
Abilities: teleportation  
Distinguishing features: see physical mutation  
Physical Mutation: blue skin, small horns and a tail_

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Phoenix  
Age: ~6  
Abilities:...  
_  
Natasha paused in reading her unfinished report and looked up at her friends. The Avengers and Pepper were assembled in what Stark fondly called the "War Room." It was on one of the top floors of the tower and had a large conference table reminiscent of King Arthur's round table except that this one was equipped with projectors that allowed the group to look at 3D interactive maps. Also, the windows themselves could darken to become screens so that it truly became a state-of-the-art mission control. Right now, though, the windows only showed the New York skyline outside and the only computer running was Jarvis in the background. 

Fury had asked Natasha to compile a list of the youths the Avengers had picked up three days ago. Natasha had promptly asked the others to help her; she'd done all she could to avoid the majority of the newcomers and knew significantly less about them than most of the others in the tower. Although Stark had only agreed to do it if his comments were included.

"What is Phoenix's power?" Natasha asked.  
"For a spy you aren't very observant," Stark commented, twirling an empty wine glass in his hands. Natasha glared at him and he quickly amended, "But that little girl is a bit of a mystery."  
"Could she simply be someone's sister?" Asked Thor.  
"No," Natasha shook her head, "X clearly said all of them have the mutant gene."  
"And they all were quite willing to come with us when Phoenix said they had to," Banner added.  
"That's because Mr. Mind Reader told them to," Tony said dismissively.  
"Because Phoenix said so first," Banner argued.  
"Maybe she is some sort of witch?" Thor said, "Like Lady Scarlet?"  
"Witch?" Rogers frowned at him. "That isn't very sensitive of you."  
"I'm confused," Thor said. "There is no shame in being a witch. It is a thing of pride and honor - it is difficult to have that level of control."  
"I don't think Scarlet has that level of control," Stark said snidely.  
"Please concentrate," Natasha half-snapped at him. She hated this assignment - it fell somewhere between foolish and annoying to worry so much about children. "What is her power?" 

"I know things!" Piped up a small voice as Phoenix and Sprite stepped in through a wall.  
Natasha didn't even think; at the new threat that she hadn't heard approach, she drew her gun and aimed. Sprite snatched Phoenix out of the way. Natasha realized who it was and her heart slowed down.

But not by much. 

"Stop sneaking up on me!" She told the girls sternly, dropping the gun.  
"Stop almost shooting random people!" Sprite half-shouted hack, her hazel eyes still wide with alarm. "Or you're going to almost shoot someone who will react just as badly back!"  
"What do you mean?" Natasha asked sourly. She didn't need caution lessons from a twelve-year old.  
"Some of the older kids don't like getting shot at," Phoenix piped up, sticking her head out from behind Sprite.  
"Only some?" Stark asked snidely. Pepper gave him a look and he shrugged apologetically.  
"Well..." Phoenix drew out the word like a piece of gum, "Only some will try to kill you back." 

The words were so at odd with the image of this little girl in her bright blue dress and a big white bow in her red hair that Natasha stared at her.  
"Ah," said Thor seriously, nodding his head, "They too have warrior instincts." Natasha wouldn't have put it that way. 

"What do you mean that your power is that you know things?" Pepper asked the little girl kindly.  
"I just do," Phoenix replied, "It just comes to me." She frowned and touched her head in remembered pain, "Sometimes it hurts." But then she brightened instantly. "But the big kids take care of me so it's all okay!"  
"How long have they...?" Stark asked.  
"Uh..." Phoenix turned to Sprite, "When did X meet you?"  
"About a year ago," Sprite replied, wrinkling her nose as she tried to remember.  
"So me two!" Phoenix said.  
"Two what?" Asked Barton.  
"Two years!"  
"You..." Pepper swallowed hard and tried again, "You kids have been on your own for two years?"  
"Kinda," Phoenix said, but then she skipped over to the large, full-wall windows and didn't elaborate as she began chattering about the view. 

Sprite put her head to one side and regarded Pepper quizzically. "Does it matter?" she asked Pepper.  
"No child should have to fend for themselves," Pepper said quietly, watching as Phoenix began skipping around the table, bombarding a slightly bemused looking Bruce Banner with questions.

_That's a matter of opinion_, thought Natasha. It was true that neither Sprite nor Phoenix looked able to take of themselves; but none of the kids looked like they could read minds or walk through walls. Well, Natasha recalled Angel's wings and Nightshade's blue skin, _most of them don't_.  
"...which means that we can go to Central Park!" Phoenix finished. She looked at Sprite, "Time to go?"  
Sprite sighed and offered her hand. 

"You know," Stark said, "You can use the door."  
"Okay," Phoenix ran over and smiled as Jarvis slide the automatic doors open for her. "But Sprite likes walking through walls too!"

Phoenix skipped out of the room and Sprite looked at the adults, "It's a good thing there are so many big kids - Phoenix tires us out pretty fast when she's happy."  
"Why won't you use doors?" Stark asked, still on the last topic.  
Sprite grinned; "Because I don't need to; and this is one of the first times in my life that I can simply practice my skills without making someone angry or upset." She glided through the wall and joined Phoenix doing whatever they two girls were doing before they arrived.  
The Avengers looked at each other. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" Barton asked. Natasha sighed and finished the report.

_Name: unknown  
Nick-name: Phoenix  
Age: ~6  
Abilities: sees the future_

Scarlet was so happy to be comfortable that she just lay there. Enjoying the feel of the soft mattress and the warm blankets. So happy that she forgot for a few blissful seconds why she was lying there in the first place, forgot who she was and the terrifying and exhausting months that had passed. Then, she remembered everything, including a building landing on her head. She sat up with a start, snapping her eyes open; ready to run, to attack, to scream. But she opened her eyes to a rather normal room with limited furniture and the shades pulled down over a full-wall window...and her twin sitting leaning back in a chair smiling at her.  
"Hi, Sis," Quicksilver told her. "How're you feeling?"  
Scarlet's heart slowed down. Barely. "Where are we?" She demanded.  
"Avengers' tower," he replied, rocking back on the chair so that the front legs were in the air.  
"Wh...what?" She gasped.  
"Stark offered us a place to stay indefinitely," he replied. "Well...Pepper convinced him. They've all decided we're too thin..."  
"But why are we here?" She demanded. He understood. As a rule, the group didn't trust anyone.

The twins trusted people even less. 

"You were in a coma, Scar," Quicksilver replied, his smiling slipping. He got up and sat on the corner of her bed. "I...I thought I was going to lose you."  
Scarlet swallowed hard. Quicksilver was her only family; and the only thing each twin loved was each other - but they rarely showed it. For him to admit such a thing...  
"How long has it been?" She asked.  
"Three days."  
"That's not too bad," Scarlet replied, trying to make light of it.  
He cracked a smile, "Guess not." 

"So..." She looked around. "What does everyone think?"  
"Vacation," Quicksilver replied. "Everyone is rather liberally using their powers."  
"Really?" Scarlet asked, amazed. "Even Cyc?"  
"You know Cyclops," Quicksilver said, "He never has any fun with his power."  
"Neither do I," She pointed out.  
"Even you use it sometimes," Quicksilver said. "Oh! And Nightshade is terrified to use his around Natasha cause she shot Panther when he did last time."  
"What?!" Scarlet demanded.  
"Oh, you were out already. Night basically teleported himself, Sprite and Panther to the battle site but agent Romanov freaked out when she heard the crack so she shot the first person she saw and..."  
"It was Panther," Scarlet finished. "At least he heals relatively quickly."  
"And Angel's wing is still busted," Quicksilver added.  
"Okay...how much did I miss exactly?" She demanded. 

Several floors up from where the twins were continuing to talk, Clint Barton was climbing stairs. Stark was always on his case to use the elevators but the man known as Hawkeye liked the exercise. And he liked the feeling of climbing up. He'd always preferred high points over being on the ground. Besides, they'd only been a few floors down when they were in the "war-room."  
Clint got to the topmost stair and opened the door that led to the roof. The light wind teased his hair as it curved around the letter A that adorned the top of the building. Stark had wanted to add the rest of the letters so that it said "Avengers" but everyone else had vetoed it as being too flashy. Clint closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the air that was much clearer than that below on the streets of New York City. Then, he realized that he wasn't alone. 

"Hi, kid," he told the winged youth sitting on the edge of the building. "How's it going?"  
Angel glanced over his shoulder at the assassin-spy. "Not bad, I guess. How's your foot?"  
Clint grimaced and looked down at the bandaged foot. "It could be worse. I still can't kick with it, though."  
Angel sighed, "I know the feeling," he told Clint glumly ruffling his wings. The burnt section stood out against the pure white of the rest of his wings.

"It looks a lot better than I thought it would," Clint observed. His sharp eyes could make out individual feathers. The section that the aliens had wounded had been stripped of a few of the primary feathers and blackened all the rest, giving the teen a nasty third degree burn to boot. But the burn had faded from its blackened red to a deep healing pink. Almost all the black feathers had molted off and small white down was beginning to grow.  
"Yeah," Angel looked down at his wing. "I mean, I can definitely fly on this but it hurts."  
"You can fly on that?" Clint asked. Angel only grinned.  
Clint shook his head and leaned against the pole that supported the building's lightning rod. "I'll be truthful; it doesn't seem as if those wings should support you."  
"I'm light enough," Angel explained; "Hollow bones and huge lungs and stuff like that." His smile twisted into something ironic, "My parents thought I was deformed." 

Clint didn't know what to say. The kid shook himself out of his funk quickly though and said in a much lighter tone, "Flying is definitely worth anything, though."  
"Dying to get up there?" Clint guessed.  
"You have no idea," Angel said passionately. "I HATE being stuck on the ground. If my wings were too damaged to heal..." He paused and continued in a much softer voice. "I think I'd kill myself."

Clint suppressed a shudder. _No teenager should mean those words that much_, Clint thought. _Even with everything that I have done in my life, I don't think I'd ever give up on life that way. This boy means it when he says it, though.  
_

The wind picked up and Angel leaned into it; closing his eyes as it teased his hair and ruffled his feathers. Clint imagined those wings opened in flight, imagined soaring away from the earth under the power of your own beating wings and powerful muscles.  
"It must be amazing to fly," Clint said softly. Angel simply smiled, and the two watched the clouds gather above. 


	3. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I don't own Marvel and any associated characters. Please review

**Chapter 4: The Measure of Humanity**

Captain America sat in a chair in the living room. Well, one of two or three living rooms in Avengers' tower but this was THE living room - the one that everyone was prone to use with a staircase that spiraled down from the three floors above it. It was arranged so that if someone were sitting on a couch in the center of the room, like Steve was now, they could look straight up and see the inner balconies of those three floors - the top of which was occupied by the strange mix of youths they had found. Steve figured this was originally planned as the lobby of some sort of corporation - most likely Stark's - with those three floors as offices. But the rooms on the third floors were so spacious that each now held two or three of the kids. Although Tony had bought them all furniture as soon as they'd arrived with an unconscious Scarlet and bleeding Panther...

The kids. Steve finally had time to reflect on what that meant. 

Kids with super-powers. Abilities that made them different. Humans like him; with abilities like him. But born with them - not injected with a serum, not trained as soldiers, just young men and women who didn't understand why or how but simply had amazing abilities that... 

"Can change the world?" A voice finished his thought.  
Steve turned looked up to see X leaning on the handrail of the balcony.  
"Something like that," Steve finished. He marveled out how much a few good nights of sleep and enough food has made on the slight teen. The shadows under his eyes were less prominent, his slender hands no longer looked skeletal and...  
"I look happier," X finished. 

Steve frowned slightly and X winced and answered his only partially formed thought. "Yeah, it's rude. But sometimes I can't help it...words spoken aloud and words thought in someone's mind...it's hard to differentiate when there's only one person."  
"Must be strange," Steve said.  
"Stranger than what you're thinking," X replied. Steve grinned but he couldn't help wonder whether the boy would leave or come down...he saw X's face fall minutely and the boy turned to go.  
_But I don't want you to leave_, Steve thought hard, thought purposefully. _I want you to come down and have a conversation with me. I want to understand where you came from and what you want. I want to...make you feel safe. _Steve surprised himself with that thought. But it was true; he wanted these kids to feel safe. 

He had a feeling they needed to feel safe. Needed to feel loved. 

X grinned and ran down the stairs.  
The little kids know we love them, a young voice said in Steve's mind. He jumped. Then, spun around to look X in the eyes. X held up his hands in the universal gesture for "unarmed." And once again thought at Steve, It's okay. It's just another part of my power.  
"Amazing," Steve said.  
"Yeah," X replied. "Except sometimes I use it without thinking, or someone thinks something and I reply in their minds. I do it less now, but when I was little..." X let his voice trail off and Steve felt a slight shiver in his soul. In his time, children were still institutionalized for things like that.  
"This time too, sometimes," X told him. "That's why we stick together."  
"You all ran away to avoid what your families would do to you?" Steve asked. 

X smiled sadly but replied with a restatement of his earlier comment.  
"All the little kids know we care about them - I think they're happier than we were at their age. But they're not...you know...healthy. Not really."  
"They don't eat enough, they don't go to school," Steve agreed. "They don't have a home."  
"Exactly," said X, "so I can't help but feel that we...ruined them somehow." 

Steve thought of Phoenix's shining eyes when X smiled at her, of Wolverine ruffling Nightshade's short black hair, of Cyclops cutting Panther an extra-large slice of cake at dinner, of Spark reading all of them a story before bed yesterday...  
"But is it worth being afraid?" X asked.  
"Wouldn't they be more afraid without all that?" Steve asked. X lapsed into contemplative silence. After several minutes Steve asked something that had been bothering him since the children came to the tower.  
"If you don't trust anyone, why reveal yourselves to us?"  
X looked past Steve, toward the door to the kitchen, and, grinning, said, "Why don't you answer that Cyc?" 

Steve looked over his shoulder at the lanky boy wearing red sunglasses that was leaning against the door frame.  
"Because we have a responsibility to use our powers to help people when we can," Cyclops explained. "We must have these abilities for a reason other than to make our lives miserable."  
"We just usually keep it on the down low," X added.  
"Yeah," Cyclops agreed. "We meant to just evacuate the people trapped under a few buildings but then we saw that you guys seemed to be losing and then Beast hacked your comm and it was obvious you were losing and..."  
"We couldn't just let the Avengers die," X finished.  
"Because we're heroes?" Asked Steve.

"Because you're _our _heroes," Cyclops said. A slight flush crept into his cheeks at his own words but he continued all the same, "You all have abilities that make you unique - you, Captain, literally have super-powers like us - and people aren't scared of you. People respect you. We want that." 

Steve felt a sudden increase in faith. These past few months spent running errands for SHIELD, spent catching up on the world news of more than fifty years, had left him a little jaded. But these young people believed that he made the world a better place and believed that they could make the world a better place because he did. It was a good feeling to know he made that much of a difference in a way that didn't involve guns and shields.  
"Question," X said, "Your take on American politics since WWII? Feel up to it?"  
Steve looked from X to Cyclops. The slightly older boy grinned and sat down on the arm of the couch.  
"This should be good," said Cyclops. And he meant it.  
Steve grinned and got started. 

"Jarvis," Spark asked the computer in a clear voice, "Where does this building's power come from?"  
"From a clean generator beneath the river several miles from here, miss," The AL replied.  
"And where is it transformed into useable energy? The tower needs to have a...like a fuse box or something..."  
"In Mr. Stark's basement laboratory has something fulfilling a similar function but that area is off-limits to everyone except..."  
"Thanks, Jarvis," Spark cut off the computer and started down the stairs. She'd been entertaining the younger kids with a rather intense game of Disney themed monopoly but Pepper had appeared a few minutes after Phoenix and Sprite had re-joined the game. Pepper had offered to entertain them. With everyone on the mend and the kids being watched by someone who obviously knew what she was doing, Spark finally had the opportunity to explore the wonderful clean energy that shone from every wall of the tower. No one else could see it - and she didn't see as much as feel - but it was there. The wonderful pulsing energy of Stark technology - the energy that pulsed through the arc reactor that beat in place of Tony Stark's heart. 

Spark paused as she reached the level of the main living room and grinned as she heard Cyclops's familiar voice asking Steve Rogers about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  
_He's always been fascinated with that man_, she thought to herself. 

FDR or Captain America? another familiar voice asked within her mind.  
Both she thought back at X. She felt X's chuckle and imagined him searching her mind and finding...  
Be careful, this technology carries a lot more power than you're used to.  
I'll be fine, Charles Spark thought back. 

She continued down the stairs, Cyclops and Steve oblivious to her and Charles conversation. 

Cyclops was her cousin. They had the same last name and had been raised like brother and sister. They were as close as Quicksilver and Scarlet, and had the stories to prove it. And when Spark had developed her ability, Scott Summers had been the first person she'd told. Back them Cyclops was just Scott, and she was just Alexandra - but no one ever called her that. And neither of them had mothers, and their fathers, although brothers, had been as different as sun and rain. And as Scott's dad had sunk into alcoholism, Alex's had become a bit of a work-a-holic but had continued to love his daughter. But both men had reacted pretty much the same when Scott's power had developed... 

Spark pushed away the memories. She was no longer Alex Summers and her cousin was no longer Scott Summers. It was easier to be Spark and Cyclops - it had to be.  
Spark put her hand on the wall of the stairwell and closed her eyes. The raw power coursing through the wires was like a drug to her, it made her hair stand on end and ignited the energy within her. Skin tingling; Spark all but flew down the stairs, only to be stopped by a formidable looking door.  
She wasn't surprised to find the handle coded to Tony Stark's handprint, nor was she surprised to hear Jarvis admonishing her about restricted access in the background. She ignored him, the desire to feel this power at its source overpowering any other thought. She touched the handle and sent a jolt of electricity running through the machine. She imagined it wrapping around the controls in a gentle but firm grip, making the necessary electric connections to open the door. For good measure, she sent a little buzz to shut up Jarvis for a bit. The door slid open and Spark stepped inside. She ignored the multiple Iron Man suits lined up against the wall and went straight to the center of the room, where the power of a generator made from an arc reactor powered the room. She ducked under the thin railing that separated it from the rest of the room and placed her bare hands flat against the glowing metal. 

That was how Tony Stark found her several minutes later, summoned by Jarvis' rather annoyed remark that "Miss Spark has temporarily disabled me in the basement and managed to get inside the reactor room."  
Tony reactivated Jarvis from the outside and stepped inside. Spark was so entranced that she didn't hear him. He leaned against the doorway and studied her. Spark was small, slight but strong, had short hair that was permanently frizzy and was apparently oblivious to everything but the reactor.  
"She's a beauty, isn't she?" Tony asked. Spark jumped and the lights flickered.  
"Woah, there!" Tony showed her his open hands. "It's ok! Don't short-circuit anything. We'll annoy the heck out of Thor - he's watching cartoons I think..."  
Spark sheepishly stepped away from the power source - but Tony swore he saw tendrils of electricity detaching themselves from the machine and wrapping themselves around her arms. 

"I'm sorry," she began to ramble breathlessly, her eyes bright, "But I could feel the energy from it and I just needed to feel it at its source and I couldn't help myself I..."  
Tony laughed. "I know all about following stupid impulses, you could say it's my specialty. Just ask Pepper."  
Spark smiled back cautiously, asking, "So you're not mad?"  
"Naw," Tony sat himself down at one of the many workbenches and grabbed the nearest thing to tinker with - a new model of the Iron Man helmet - "just don't short circuit anything. This tower is a pain to re-wire. After Loki came through the last time...what a mess!"  
Spark gave him another smile, a real one that time. Tony couldn't help but feel pleased that someone else admired the real beauty of that machine - made from teseract technology after all! Not that Howard Stark knew that was what it was when he analyzed the thing he found in the middle of the ocean when looking for the all-American Capsicle. Spark ducked back under the railing and approached one of the suits. 

"May I?" She asked, noticing Tony's stare.  
"Of course, kiddo," he said, "Jarvis, raise the glass on the Mark 66."  
"66!?" Spark gasped.  
"After I blew up the other 47..." Tony trailed off at her expression, "Never mind. There were mutated humans and mad scientists..."  
Spark's face at the words mutated humans made Tony backtrack as fast as any of Pepper's expression ever did. "Mutated by the mad scientist. Experimented on. Not like you kids - they weren't natural and had nothing to do with the mutant X gene."  
"People call us unnatural," she said flatly.  
"People are stupid," Tony replied. "Hell, have they even seen Thor?"  
Spark jumped onto one of the other work tables and swung her feet a few inches from the ground. "What do you think of us Mr. Stark?" She asked seriously. "Really?"  
"I think you were forced to grow up way to fast," Tony said honestly. He stood up and pointed the screwdriver at her. "You're a teenager, you should be out partying and making bad life choices and getting drunk and breaking curfew and, and, and, and just living damn it. Not worrying about being hunted down or misunderstood because you're different. Special. A good special. Like, Super-hero special. Save the world types...but you shouldn't need to worry about saving the world until you're old - like Capsicle." Tony stopped. He was uncomfortable now. This was way to touchy-feely and emotional for him. Pepper was better at this stuff. But Spark seemed to be seriously considering what he has said. It was a novel experience. He liked it. And he liked this strange girl who was making his electronic sensors beep with confusion. 

"Capsicle?" She asked finally. Tony only laughed. She grinned and hopped down to finally examine the Iron Man suits.  
She tentatively reached out to stroke one and Tony saw her eyes glow red for the briefest second. Where had he seen that before?  
The image of a young man removing his red sunglasses from his face popped into his mind.  
"Is your power connected to Cyclops' in some way?" He asked.  
"We're not sure," Spark admitted, "We're related so we think it's a possibility."  
"You're related? Brother and sister?"  
Spark withdrew a bit. "Something like that."  
Tony didn't press it. The kids didn't want to share personal information; that was fine with him. With Fury sending Natasha to do reports on them it was probably for the best.  
"This suit has its own reactor," Spark said, her hand over the center light.  
"Yeah," he said. "Since it's not in my chest any more I thought of just getting rid of the concept but then I thought, it's a very iconic thing. You know?"  
"What happened to the one in your chest?" She asked.  
"No longer needed," Tony told her, "I got the shrapnel removed." 

She nodded, hand still over the suit's power center and sudden it came to life. It began to glow and the helmet turned to look at her. Spark pulled away and the systems turned off.  
"Shit," she breathed. "I'm sorry; I hope I didn't fry anything!"  
Tony chuckled. "These babies are built to take more than a little zap from you." He grabbed a couple of tools and checked it out. "How'd you turn it on, though?"  
"Electricity is attracted to me," she said. "I'm a super conductor or something. The sheer number of phones I've ruined...anything electronic that is kept on me ends up fried on accident or on purpose."  
"On purpose?" Tony prompted. He looked at her. She was playing with on strand of hair and looking at the tower's generator again.  
"I don't produce the energy," she said. "I just manipulate it. It needs to come from somewhere. And when we're in trouble, the phone or pager or game-boy in my pocket is the closest way to get power." She grinned wryly. "Beast won't get within 5 feet of me with his computer if there is even the possibility of us getting into trouble!"  
"I think the arc reactors like you," Tony said.  
"Uh, what?"  
"110% charge and steady," he told her, closing up the suit again. "Not bad for a little zap."  
She smiled sheepishly. "Cyc says I spark things - that's where my name is from."  
Tony grinned. "It fits."  
And he already had several ideas about how her power actually worked and how to help her train and about how he could help some of the other kids too...damn; Pepper was a pretty big influence on him, wasn't she?

"Jarvis," Pepper told the AL, her hands full of plates. Pepper and Sprite were currently setting on the large dining room table. "Tell everyone that dinner will be served in ten minutes and they better be down here before that."  
"Yes, Ms. Potts," the computer replied before announcing over the intercom, "Ms. Potts requests your immediate presence in the dining room for dinner."  
Sprite grinned at her. Sprite liked the red-headed motherly figure that was so willing to play with them. She'd also done Sprite's hair up into two elaborate braided buns that she absolutely loved. Maybe she could teach Scarlet sometime. Scarlet wasn't too bad once you got on her good side. And Scarlet liked Sprite. Scar just couldn't stand some of the older boys.

Thor came bounding into the room then, looking different in his normal jeans and a plain white T-shirt that bulged across his muscles.  
"Lady Pepper!" He boomed; "Do you require assistance setting the table for our banquet?"  
"Hardly a banquet," Pepper laughed. "It's just pasta!"  
"It smells so good!" Storm said, her eyes huge. She's come in after Thor - apparently the two had bonded over an episode of Phineas and Ferb.  
There was a cracking noise and Pepper almost dropped the last plate as Nightshade appeared next to her holding a stack of cups.  
"I brought cups!" He said as he began placing them next to the plates.  
"I thought you said you weren't gonna teleport in the house," Sprite said as she continued laying down knives, forks and spoons.  
"I asked Jarvis if Ms. Natasha was in the room first," Nightshade told her. "She's the only one who scares me."  
"There's no reason to be afraid of Natasha," Pepper told the blue-skinned boy. "She's just had a hard life."  
"But she shot somebody cause of me," the young boy said. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt!" 

Pepper sighed and, unseen, hidden behind the half-closed door, Natasha Romanov gritted her teeth. She hadn't meant to shoot the cat-mutant-kid. She hadn't meant to shoot anyone! And she didn't want the youngest boy to be terrified of her. Contrary to popular opinion, she didn't always want people to be scared of her. She thought it might be good to keep the older kids a bit preoccupied but Nightshade, Phoenix, Storm and even Sprite and Panther had no reason to fear her. They were too young to do anything truly terrible. Unless the older kids influenced them. There was a crack as Nightshade disappeared and then another as he reappeared with more cups. Natasha sighed and walked into the room just as Beast and Bruce Banner came in from the opposite side of the room.  
"...gamma radiation is of course extremely dangerous but I see the appeal of trying to harness it too," Beast was saying excitedly.  
"But teseract energy is a lot more stable..."  
"Both of them have their risks which is why..." Banner interjected, equally as excited.  
"You and Mr. Stark are working on..." Beast continued for him. 

"Boys!" Pepper admonished them, "No work talk at the table!" She was smiling. Bruce grinned sheepishly and Beast looked absolutely ecstatic to be talking with someone so intelligent. While most of the other teens has been talking with individual Avengers or watching TV or exploring the many rooms in the tower, Beast and Bruce had spent the entire morning talking about everything from politics to the ethics of modern Medicine to gamma radiation. And, surprisingly, Bruce had enjoyed himself immensely. Beast knew a surprising amount about each topic and had also just listened, drinking in each word hungrily. _That was what he was, _thought Bruce as his young companion helped Sprite finish setting the table, _hungry for knowledge._  
A beeping sound came for the kitchen and Pepper looked up; surprised, "Oh! I almost forgot - that's the garlic bread. Can someone...?"  
"I've got it Ms. Potts," said Beast. And, to all the adult's surprise (especially Steve who had just walked in), Beast grabbed the edge of the table, flipped himself into the air, grabbed the chandelier with his feet, SWUNG himself across the room, and landed lightly on his feet next to the door that led to the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen as if nothing had happened and Storm, Sprite and Nightshade burst into laughter at the expression on the adult's faces. X, Cyclops and Angel all grinned, and Angel gave Beast a high five when the other appeared. Wolverine, Pyro and Iceman appeared with their hair still wet from hasty showers after sparring in the gym for the last few hours. Tony and Spark came up together. Panther came in silently with Phoenix skipping behind him and Pepper had everyone sit. 

"Two more," said X, glancing at the door.  
"Two?" Pepper repeated.  
X grinned as Sprite called, "Scarlet!" Scarlet and Quicksilver had just entered the room. And, to the youths who knew them, the fact that Quicksilver was _walking_ meant that he still wanted to keep an eye on his sister.  
Phoenix ran to give the older girl a hug as Iceman said, "Hey! Sleeping beauty awakens."  
Scarlet shot him a glare over Phoenix's head and Iceman put up his hands in surrender, still smiling. Scarlet allowed herself a small smile; Iceman could get on her nerves but he usually meant well. Panther silently moved over one seat so that the two empty seats were next to each other and Quicksilver sped over to one.  
"C'mon Scar! Let's eat!"  
"How are you feeling?" Pepper asked Scarlet.  
"Hungry," she said honestly. "But besides that, fine."  
"You had a building fall on your head," Bruce began.

Scarlet cut him off harshly, "I'm fine."  
"Relax, bub," Wolverine told her. His voice and posture - leaning back on his chair so that it was balanced on two legs - were very nonchalant but it was also apparent that he wasn't kidding at all as he finished, "We're safe here."  
Scarlet looked at her twin again for a silent confirmation before telling Bruce. "I'm sorry; I'm a little jumpy. Thanks for...you know...not taking me to a hospital but not letting me die either."  
"It was my pleasure, Scarlet," Bruce told her. Her sudden change in attitude was startling, and reminded him a bit of himself and his abrupt changes into "_the other guy_." 

Scarlet sat down smoothly and Pepper rose as another beep came from the kitchen, commanding Tony, "Tony, help me get the pasta."  
"Why do I..."  
"Now!"  
Tony hurried after her into the kitchen and the younger kids giggled again. Soon everyone had a heaping plate of pasta and it was silent as everyone focused on eating. Pepper laughed silently as Panther attempted to bite a huge piece of garlic bread with pasta still in his mouth and commented, "Don't worry! There's more of everything in the kitchen."  
"Thank you," Spark told her. "For everything. We haven't had this much to eat in a long while."  
"You kids sure eat a lot," Steve commented, glancing at Wolverine's already mostly-empty plate.  
"When we can get it," Beast said. "We should get almost four times as many calories a day as an average teenager but we usually..."  
"What!?" The adults all demanded, with various tones ranging from disbelief to alarm.  
"Our powers cause for our metabolism to run at least twice as fast as a normal human child," Beast explained. "And when we use our powers in excess that doubles as well. Therefore, we need to eat more."  
"But you kids have been living on your own," Clint said slowly. Beast nodded, his face serious.  
"We've all lost weight," Spark said. She glanced at Cyclops, "I've literally seen the fat melt off you."  
He gave her a twisted smile. "That's not a bad thing."  
"It is when you literally lose every single ounce of body fat!" She shot back.  
"It's why we all basically passed out when we got back on the first day," X added, looking at Tony. "We don't have enough energy stored in our bodies to maintain our powers for..."  
"That's a bit too much information, don't you think?" Pyro interjected suddenly. 

It was quiet for a bit. Each person lost in his or her own thoughts. Pepper suddenly stood; accidently banging her chair hard against the floor and everyone looked at her.  
"You kids are not leaving this house until you put on weight," she said fiercely. She left and returned with some ready-to-eat meatloaf. The majority of the teens all looked at each other and shrugged. X smiled at her knowingly.  
"Yay! Lots of food!" Phoenix cheered. 

Natasha watched as they dug back into their meals. Watched as they ate quickly, almost fearfully, as they had every night. Almost as if they expected to have to run or have it taken away. And Natasha Romanov felt sad.  
Steve felt indignant that people would scare these children so badly that they chose to live on their own.  
Bruce was silently impressed that they had survived with so small a fraction of the nutrients their bodies actually craved.  
Tony was wondering how long Pepper actually wanted them to stay.  
Clint was secretly dreading the report he knew Fury would want and trying to justify these strange kids staying in Avengers' tower.  
And Thor...Thor was also impressed, but impressed because he was the only Avenger with experience with abilities like these - abilities that seemed much more common in Asgard. Thor was impressed that these strange children, especially those with extreme powers such as X, Cyclops, Scarlet and Spark, had not gone completely mad due to lack of training. Thor alone out of all the Avengers had already realized that these powers had the potential to destroy the mind and soul of the person who bore them - and these kids had managed to elude that on their own.


	4. Chapter 5

Author's note: I don't own Marvel or Avengers or X-Men

**Chapter 5: Potential and Truth**

Two weeks later

Natasha was quite glad to find the gym empty. She had expected it to be - 6:30 AM was too early for just about every inhabitant of the tower - but lately at least one teenage boy was down in the training facilities every time she wanted to practice.  
Not that the teens were bad sparring partners. Wolverine especially was quite skilled with hand-to-hand combat and Angel had impressed Clint by having an excellent eye for a bow (not as good as Clint, of course, but better than most SHIELD agents.) However, the Black Widow was looking forward to some time alone. 

She walked by the shooting range and the traditional gym area with a treadmill and weights and went to a section reminiscent of an obstacle-course. She grinned. Stark did have a good taste in toys. This little baby had moving metal boards, shot out paintball bullets and could suddenly yank the floor out from under you. It wasn't totally safe - but it was Natasha and Clint's favorite part of the training arena and they had, a bit jealously, kept the kids from paying it too much attention.  
Natasha grabbed a paintball gun - it was identical to her real gun except for the bullets - and began the machine. It began to whirl and clack like an old torture chamber and she smiled before launching herself in. 

Nothing touched her and every target was covered in her black and red paint when she leapt out of the course a few minutes later. She flew out and rolled, landing on one knee with the gun at the ready, her finger on the trigger. Heart pounding, she allowed herself another smile.  
The machine shut itself down and someone coughed. 

Natasha stood abruptly and turned towards the door, controlling her impulse to raise the gun first and ask questions later. It had to be one of the kids. 

She was right. 

Standing next to one of the pillars that held up the heavy tower, was, of all people, Panther. Natasha was very glad that she'd kept down her gun.  
"Hey, kid," she said. "What are you doing down here?" She winced at her tone. God, she had no practice with children - two weeks wasn't enough to change that.  
Panther shrugged and looked at the machine. Natasha followed his gaze. "One of Stark's ideas. One of his better received ideas I might add. Fury thinks we're nuts but Clint and I rather like it. It never does the same thing twice." She went to return her paint-ball gun, and go to the more traditional weights section. 

The kid wasn't talking - Panther never talked - so she decided to ignore him. That is, until she heard the machine come to life. Natasha spun around, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Panther grinned and launched himself in. Natasha gritted her teeth. It was unsafe to shut it off with someone inside - it could slice off a hand or something with the moving walls.  
She got ready to tell Bruce that Panther was hurt _again_ when she realized something - the kid was good.  
Panther was quick and he was flexible. He leapt over and ducked under the moving walls. He dodged every paintball bullet and then topped it off by mimicking her exact move when he jumped out of the course (for he had done a Clint and ended up on top of the walls.)  
He stood and looked at her inquiringly, a small and satisfied smile still on his face.  
Natasha nodded. "Very nice. Where did you learn...?"  
Panther shook his head.  
"That was all instinct?" She prompted.  
The boy nodded.  
"You have potential as a spy," said Natasha. "I have a feeling you know everything about everyone at this point too. You could blend right in." 

Panther's smile slipped and he reached up to touch one fuzzy, pointed ear. He swallowed hard.  
"C'mon that'd be easy to hide," Natasha said dismissively. "It's the not talking that would get you." She looked at the boy with her fixed gaze. "Why don't you talk?"  
Panther ducked his head and Natasha sighed inwardly.  
"Meow...t...t...ta...ti...on," a small voice stuttered quietly.  
Natasha spun around. Panther wasn't looking at her, but still there was only one person that could have been.  
"I won't laugh," she said quietly.  
Panther looked up, his thin shoulders rising and falling with every shaky breath. "My mutation...I can't talk right," he whispered. Natasha understood the words, but it was said strangely. High-pitched and strained, as if something that wasn't supposed to be talking were speaking - like a cat has suddenly spoken English.  
"Oh," she said. Panther shrugged. 

Natasha tapped her foot on the ground, thinking. _He liked training too, huh? Well, she could work with that. _  
"Come with me," she told the fourteen-year-old, and she walked to the other side of the room. Panther followed silently, a bit confused. Natasha tossed him a wooden rod and he caught it without blinking. She nodded, impressed and got herself one.  
"You're going to learn how to fight," she told him. It wasn't a question.  
Panther smiled, baring teeth that were just a bit sharp. 

Natasha grinned back, and showed him a starting stance. Then, she attacked. She went easy on him - still she was impressed when not a single blow hit him. Squashing her tendency to simply go harder on him, she began to show him how to attack - not just run. 

He still preferred to run. 

But Natasha had a goal now - to get this kid to be unafraid of standing up for himself. And no one messes with Black Widow when she has a goal.

"Have you seen Panther?" Sprite asked X several hours later. The older boy looked up from his book. He was reading on a couch in what had quickly become "the kids' living room." This particular living room - or lobby area or something - was on the floor with all of the bedrooms. An X-box was already hooked up to the TV and several stuffed animals had a permanent home in one corner of the room.  
X half-closed his eyes and listened with his mind. His consciousness gently brushed over the still sleeping minds of Phoenix, Cyclops and Spark, catching fragments of dreams. He briefly heard Iceman and Pyro talking about going to the city for burgers, felt Wolverine going downstairs to train, concentrated for a brief moment on the twins discussing the Avengers, and kept going through the house. Skipping from conscious to conscious until he found - 

_Natasha is nice when you get to know her,_ Panther was thinking as Natasha corrected his grip on a wooden rod.  
_ ...a lot of potential. Fury would love him..._Natasha was thinking. 

X grinned at Sprite. This had all taken a fraction of a second to know.  
"He's downstairs training with Natasha."  
"What?" Sprite gasped. "Panther training with the Black Widow?"  
"Yup, she's impressed."  
"Well, of course," Sprite huffed. "He's part-cat! He's great!" 

X read the disappointment in her mind; she'd wanted to play with him.  
"Storm's almost out of the bath if you're still in need of a playmate." X told her.  
She didn't answer. But her frustration of being once again paired with the little kids was evident. She wanted to do more with the older kids but they were always busy and all she wanted was to...  
"Sprite," X laughed, "I can do that with you!"  
"You mean it!" She demanded.  
"Yeah! I love finger painting, how about you go get it? I've got to put these books away. And the newspaper is a good idea - I'd hate to ruin Pepper's new carpet."  
Sprite didn't bother voicing her thanks out loud, just gave him a quick hug and ran to get the paint. X laughed and stood up. He stretched and walked over to grab the rest of the books and then...everything shifted. 

_No_, X thought. _Not again._

It was like something twisted in his mind. Like a door was forced open and he couldn't close it. X desperately tried to shield his own mind from the onslaught he knew would come. Tried to be in the moment. His moment. His reality. Not anyone else's. 

But it didn't work.

Suddenly he was not himself reaching for his books, but _Tony Stark and Pepper downstairs, he was Cyclops in a dream and Scarlet getting dressed _and not only...  
He clung for a moment to the minds of his friends, tried to bury himself in the familiar patterns of their minds but he slipped away and he was...  
_A girl in Central Park being watched by a man...  
A weary police officer getting off his shift...  
A man and woman yelling at each other in their home...  
A teenager smoking pot in a corner...  
_

And more and more and more...all at once...a thousand minds clamoring for attention...  
_Leave me alone! _X shouted to them.  
They were all there at once and there was just so much pain, so many people in pain...  
_A crying child...  
A dying woman...  
A man about to jump off a bridge...  
_

All at once, a shouting torrent of voices and he was drowning, drowning, _drowning...  
_

Sprite was quite happily carrying several tubes of finger paint, large white paper, and a couple newspapers into the living room. She more or less dropped everything on the floor, and after making sure the paint hadn't exploded, looked around for X.  
And didn't see him. 

_That's weird,_ she thought.

"X!" She called, but in her normal voice - people were still sleeping. "X?"  
She walked over to the couch, and noticed something against the wall. She walked around the furniture and froze. 

X was braced against the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest, his hands clasped on her ears as if he were trying to block out a crowd shouting at him. He was shaking like a leaf, tears streaming down his face.  
And his face...it showed so much pain that Sprite screamed.  
She heard someone swear in an adjoining room and a thud as if something had fallen but she ignored them all and ran to X.  
"X! Please, please, snap out of it! It's not happening to you!" She shook him, hard, but nothing happened.  
And he continued to shudder in pain and, most frighteningly, was silent. 

"Spark!" Sprite shouted desperately, "Help! Help, someone help me!"  
And suddenly Spark was on her knees besides her.  
"When did he...?" the older girl demanded.  
"I don't know," Sprite said breathlessly, she couldn't help the tears that sprang to her eyes. "I was just talking to him like ten minutes ago."  
X let out a strangled gasp and went ram-rod stiff against the wall; his chest heaving. Sprite choked back a sob.  
"Sprite, get out of the room," Spark told her firmly. 

Spark glanced over her shoulder and shouted at everyone else, "Get out, now!"  
Cyclops scooped up little Phoenix who had just come out yawning sleepily, and gently moved Nightshade to the door. Wolverine was much more brusque as he shoved Pyro and Angel out another door.  
Spark ignored all of them as she placed her hand flat on the wall. In her haste, one of the light bulbs in the room exploded but she succeeded at what she wanted; sending a small electric current running through Jarvis' cameras and microphone in that room. Jarvis' connections in the room went dead.  
The door shut as Spark gently slid one of her hands between X's head and the wall. She used her other hand to firmly pull one of his hands from his ears. X twisted next to her, face contorting in pain. Spark wanted to cry - but she knew that it would do no good.  
"Charles," she whispered in his ear. "Charles Xavier look at me!"

Among all the voices there was one that was suddenly louder. He tried to pull away from it, but it was insistent.  
Look at me. Open your eyes.  
Charles forced himself to focus on this voice, and he fell into a familiar thought pattern. He clung to it even as he opened his eyes and looked into Spark's hazel eyes. _They were green today,_ he noticed vaguely and then he was slipping again. Voices shouting so loud they were crowded him out and he had no more strength to fight them.  
"Charles; look at me!" Spark said fiercely. She knit her fingers with his and placed his hand on her temple. Focus on my thoughts. Focus on what I'm thinking. It's a shared memory, remember? We were scared then, too.

Charles clung to her memory as she tried to focus on it and nothing else. He saw what she had seen that day: _  
She was standing in front of the collapsed building, furious and scared. Scott must have had powers too. And apparently he couldn't control them, which meant that he was somewhere by himself, terrified because he collapsed his damn house on his head. And she hadn't expected her father to accept Scott with opens arms but how could he just write him off as a freak who had lost his mind? He'd basically raised him! If that was how he'd reacted about Scott...she felt energy gather in her palm and the lamppost beside her suddenly flickered and then exploded. She walked away from it, ready to cry. And to make it worse Bobby was missing too and...  
I know where they are. They're okay, just scared. _

_ She spun around, her hand dropping into her pocket to grab her phone. Not that she needed to break another phone but it was better than being defenseless. She noted the firemen shifting the ruins, policemen and busy-body neighbors, and a teenaged boy a year or two younger than her leaning against that old oak tree on the corner.  
Yeah, it's me that voice in her mind said. It sounded tired. I can help you find them if you help us.  
Us._

_ Then she noticed the little girl sitting on the curb, watching the firemen, and another boy lying in the grass, his face turned away from her - maybe sleeping.  
What do you need? she thought hard.  
Even from this far away, she saw the relief on his face. Food. Please. We haven't eaten for a couple of days.  
She grabbed her bike from the ground behind her and pushed it to where they were gathered. The mind-reader nudged the other boy with his foot and picked up the little girl. The boy on the ground started awake and glared at her suspiciously.  
"It's okay," the mind-reader said wearily. "She's one of us."  
One of us, she marveled. She examined the second boy more closely: he had a strange hair-cut that made it stand up on either side like wolf ears. I wonder what...he'll tell me if he wants, she thought. Aloud, she said, "Even if I didn't have something to hide, I still would help you."  
"Really?" The second boy demanded harshly. She thought of Bobby.  
"She would," the mind-reader told the other, "She's done it before. When she still didn't know about her power."  
He looked at her. "My name is Charles. Charles Xavier."  
"Alexandra Summers," she said, shaking his hand. "But everyone calls me..."  
_  
"Alex," Charles muttered, his eyes finally focusing on her face.  
Thank God, she thought. It's okay. They're not you. It isn't happening to you. You don't need to listen. Focus on me.

Then her thoughts were mainly pictures and emotions and the constant memory of ocean waves. Things he could grasp and understand until the rest became background noise. Until he could finally hear his own thoughts and realize her hand behind his head and the cramp in his leg.  
He was vaguely aware of the door opening and another conscious entered the room. He flinched away from it, terrified of losing himself in the avalanche of information once again but Wolverine knelt next to Alex and told him earnestly, "C'mon, Charles. You can do it. Focus on me now."  
Logan's thoughts were wilder, harsher, but Charles relaxed his death grip on Alex's thought pattern and let himself explore the different mind. Found confidence in knowing two different people at once. The door opened again and this time he didn't flinch, although he didn't look away from Logan and Alex.  
Scott Summer stood behind his cousin and smiled at him encouragingly. He didn't speak, but he didn't need to.  
In his mind Charles read Phoenix insisting that Logan and Scott go upstairs after a few minutes. Read the Avengers completely confused and the rest worried. Scott was his step back downstairs to gently run his conscious over everyone else...and not get lost. 

The avalanche was over. 

He was okay. 

The pain was gone.

Charles took a deep shuddering breath and nodded. Alex sighed in relief, and he felt her tears come to the surface. Now that she didn't need to be calm, it was hard for her to remain straight-faced. Charles thought back to the last terrifying minutes and - Oh, God, I was so scared - and began to sob.

As Charles began to shake with tears he just couldn't contain, Alex moved so that she was sitting next to him against the wall and let his head fall on her shoulder. She threaded one of her arms around his shoulder and caressed his hair as he cried.  
It wasn't sexual in any way, this relationship between Alex and Charles. Alex had been unable from letting motherly instincts take over when she'd met most of the other kids, and, even though the difference between Alex and Charles was only two years, this mother-hen-instinct extended to him as well. She'd been the only one around the first time any of them saw Charles have one of his "attacks." And she'd managed to calm him down without understanding what was happening. Ever since then, she was the first choice for helping him - although Logan, Scott, Angel and Iceman were just as willing and capable of helping in their own way.

Charles cried on Alex's shoulder for a good five minutes before he controlled himself. His hands were still shaking though - a fact the other three noticed, yet didn't comment upon. Charles left his head resting on Alex's shoulder and Logan squatted down to grab his shoulder.

"It's okay, bub, you're all right. It wasn't you," Logan told him.  
"It's just..." Charles looked at his friend, "They're so many voices! And they all want to be heard...need to be heard..."  
"But not by you," Logan said.  
"He's right," Scott added, "everyone needs someone to hear them - but it doesn't have to be you."  
"Some people don't get heard except by me," Charles whispered, pain flashing across his face.  
Alex gave him a sideways hug. "It's not your fault." She said softly.  
"I know...but..."  
"No buts," said Logan. "Let's go eat. You just burned off everything you've eaten for the past two days."  
"It's not that severe," Charles said wearily.  
"Naw," said Scott, "But it's close." 

Charles allowed himself a shaky smile and let the two young men pull him to his feet. His legs wobbled underneath him and he braced himself against the wall. Alex stood and smiled encouragingly. Charles took a deep breath and nodded, ignoring their thoughts. They meant it all kindly but he needed to do this on his own. They wouldn't always be here to help. Charles repressed a shudder. That thought honesty scared him.  
Alex impulsively gave him a hug; he still looked scared and exhausted. Charles returned it, squeezing her tightly before letting go. Scott gave him a one-armed squeeze and Logan clapped him on the back before they finally went downstairs...slipping again into X and Spark and Cyclops and Wolverine...because they wouldn't be terrified by what just happened. No, they were tough and didn't need to cry; they lived in another version of the truth. 


	5. Chapter 6

Author's Note: I don't own Marvel or X-Men or anything that cool.

**Chapter 6: Running From the Past...Only to be Caught  
**  
2 more weeks, start of June

Clint followed Natasha upstairs and slammed the door shut behind him. She turned and glared at her fellow SHIELD agent - a gaze that had most men running for the nearest exit and made Stark backtrack so hard he would almost fall over. But Clint was either immune to it by now or was so upset that he ignored it.  
"You can't actually still be writing those reports, Natasha," he hissed, his eyes livid. "They're just kids!"  
"Not all of them are kids," she snapped back. "Cyc and Spark have to be almost 20 - and all of them are accountable for their actions!"  
"They don't mean anyone any harm," he countered, "and they trust us! How could you...!"  
"I'm not sending agents after them, Barton," she snarled. "I'm doing my damn job!"  
"Being an overachiever are we?" He asked nastily. "Want to be Fury's favorite?"  
"I...what!" Natasha, the famous Black Widow, was at a loss for words. _Why the hell was Clint so angry? _It just made her even angrier.  
"That's the only reason I see for going out of your way to report on them," he hissed, "They're trying to stay off the radar - their lives depend on it - and you're just..."  
"I can't just not do my job," Natasha protested, eyes flashing.  
"You stopped doing your job before," Clint pointed out.  
"I switched sides," she said softly, dangerously, "There's a difference. And if you've just stopped writing reports you're going to find out the hard way that Fury..."  
"I'm not going out of my damn way to write reports on people I want to protect when I haven't been explicitly ordered to do so," he snapped. "And you...!"  
"Fury hasn't asked you to write any?" Natasha demanded.

There was silence for a brief moment and Clint asked slowly, "Fury asked you to keep reporting?"  
"Yes," Natasha hissed.  
"He didn't ask me..." Clint swallowed hard. But before he could say anything:  
"You thought I was spying on them of my own choice!" Natasha spat at him. She was hurt. It felt like someone had twisted her heart. Even after all this time, he didn't know her at all. And it was her own damn fault. But still, "What the hell do you think of me!?"  
"I'm sorry! I..."  
"Get out!" Natasha shoved him hard in the chest and he slammed against the door. "Out now!"  
"Nat!" Clint protested his eyes wide.  
She drew her gun. "Out!" Clint turned the door-knob without looking and backed out of the door, his eyes never leaving her face.

The door fell shut with a click and Natasha Romanov locked it savagely. Then she threw back her head and screamed quietly. More of a sound of frustration than anything else. She stored her gun and walked into her bedroom. Then she began systematically punching her pillows; tears she wouldn't let fall stinging her eyes.  
She gained control after a few minutes and, furious, went to compose a very angry email to Nick Fury.

Clint stood in the hallway between the rooms occupied by himself and Natasha. They lived on the same floor - a fact that had caused him to punch Tony in the arm the first time he saw it. But he'd been secretly pleased. Natasha and Clint spent as much time in each other's rooms as they did their own and...  
Clint looked a bit longingly at her closed door. He felt like an idiot. Granted, he'd known it was weird for Natasha to be writing the reports but he'd specifically asked Fury if he'd still make them write them and the director had said no.  
Clint frowned, his anger growing. The director of SHIELD was rapidly getting on his nerves. Fury had lied to him. And now Natasha...Clint was wondering what he could do to make it up to her when he heard the elevator slide open. He looked up and saw Phoenix in her pj's and holding an old stuffed bunny - one of the few things she'd brought with her from her past.  
She looked at Clint, seemingly confused and announced in her sweet little girl voice, "I dunno why but if you give Miss Natasha flowers she'll try to shoot you. G'night!" She looked up at the ceiling and announced, "Jarvis! Kids' floor please."  
"Of course Miss Phoenix," said the AL as the doors slid shut.  
Clint stared and, rather violently, banished all thoughts of flowers from his mind.

The tension between the two agents was almost palpable in the air the next morning. Even the younger kids could feel it. And X was desperately trying to avoid eye-contact with everybody - a fact that put both Clint and Natasha on edge as they tried to keep their thoughts to themselves.  
After grabbing a stack of pancakes, X excused himself and fled upstairs to drown out the thoughts of the world in the very loud, classic rock music coming from his old headphones. Really, sometimes he didn't want to know. Although the disjointed glimpse he was getting of this "Nick Fury" were honestly starting to scare him.  
Both Natasha and Clint went on walks soon after - leaving seperately and going in separate directions. Banner went down to Columbia University to give a lecture with a very excited Beast and fairly interested Cyclops in tow. Thor went to visit Jane Foster for the week, and Steve took Wolverine, Pyro, Quicksilver and Panther to a baseball game.

And the rest of the kids promised Pepper to stay off the first two floors while she and Tony began arrangements for a contract between Stark Industries and an important businessman.

"Why are we doing it here?" Tony asked Pepper as she inspected his clothing. His suit was impeccable of course, but she did love to fuss. Besides, it had given them a good excuse to be alone.  
"Because he offered to do it at his house and we said no," Pepper reminded him.  
"Oh, yeah," Tony snorted. "Mansion is more like it."  
"Tony, we live in a tower."  
"It was meant for business!"  
"But now we live in it," she reminded him.  
"Well...yeah," Tony admitted sheepishly. "But we love our tower...right?"  
Pepper laughed. "I wouldn't mind going with the original plan and living on the top few floors and leaving the rest for the company."  
"Neither would I, if we left a floor or two empty in between, but I'm not sure how the other people living here would feel about that."

Pepper stepped back and looked at Tony square in the eye. "The kids?" She asked.  
"The kids," Tony admitted, "Damn, Pepper, when did I start wanting for them to stay?"  
Pepper shook her head. "I don't know," she whispered. "I can't stand the hints they've let drop about how they were living. I can't imagine...have you noticed how much they eat? Quicksilver and Wolverine rival Thor! Can you imagine needing that much food and living on the streets?"  
"Always starving," whispered Tony. "When I was captured...before I was Iron Man...it is an awful feeling."  
Pepper leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. Tony's hand crawled into her hair and tangled itself into her red locks as he deepened the kiss. All thoughts of business flew from their minds but...  
"Sir," Jarvis' voice said, "Mr. Worthington is approaching the driveway."  
Tony and Pepper pulled apart.  
"Damn it," he whispered and Pepper laughed a bit breathlessly.

"Later," she promised. "Tony! You ruined my hair," she added a few minutes later.  
"It looks great!" He protested.

A few minutes later they were downstairs in the remarkably clean living room. None of the kids were in sight, which they took as a blessing. Although Pepper felt a twinge of sadness that they would hide so completely from a stranger.  
Mr. Worthington, the CEO of a company that made biomedical equipment and funded experimental medicine for everything from Cancer treatment to the flu, soon arrived.

The meeting was a success and they were just showing him out the door, a brand new preliminary contract in Pepper's hands and a promise to finalize the arrangements in two days with the company lawyer's present when _it _happened.

Mr. Worthington was saying, "...doing business with Stark Industries. Worthington Co. is proud of working in tandem with such high esteemed companies as Oscorp and Apple..."  
"I'm sure that..." Tony interrupted, when they heard the sound of laughter traveling down the stairs.  
All three adults looked at the stairs and saw Angel coming down. Tony took note that he was wearing an old bulky army jacket - one of the few things he had owned - that fully hid the fact that he had wings. He was shaking his blonde bangs out of his eyes and saying, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Stark..."

He suddenly cut off, his eyes going wide and face turning as white as a sheet.

Mr. Worthington's eyes also widened and then narrowed in anger as he hissed, "You."  
Angel turned and ran up the stairs and the CEO sprang after him, almost snarling as he demanded, "Come back here you…"  
But Iceman, who had evidently been following his friend, ran to intercept the man on the stairs and growled, "Stop!"  
Tony shouted, "Where the hell do you think you're going? This is my house! You're not allowed up there!"  
"Tony!" Pepper hissed at him, a sinking feeling in her stomach, "Let's try to solve this diplomatically!"  
Mr. Worthington stopped and looked at the youth before him. He looked quizzically at the boy, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Iceman took a step back, swallowing hard.  
"And you..." Mr. Worthington said, "Well, well, Robert Drake back from the dead, is it?"

Robert. He'd called Iceman, _Robert_.

Tony and Pepper were so shocked they didn't do anything.  
Iceman - Robert - looked down and swallowed hard before meeting the man's hard gaze.  
"Yeah. Now back off."  
"Let me see my son," the CEO growled.  
"He doesn't want to see you."  
"Damn hell, I'm his father!" He took a step closer to Iceman - Robert - and shouted, "Warren! Warren! Get down here now you worthless..!"  
"I said he doesn't want to see you!" Iceman shouted at him, "back off!"  
"After all I did for him," Mr. Worthington hissed, "After keeping him safe..."  
"Safe?" Iceman repeated, "Safe?! That wasn't safe! That was...abused or oppressed or something! He was too scared to even fly till we met him! Safe isn't..."  
"Ah ha," Mr. Worthington crowed, "So it was you! You and those other freaks! The one who kidnapped his cousin and blew up his house, am I right? The ones Warren just loved to spend time with! You all corrupted him."  
"We didn't corrupt anyone!" Iceman shouted. "And all of that is a lie! We didn't..."  
"You're a dangerous freak and...!"

"Get away from him now!" Tony roared.

Mr. Worthington looked down, surprised. "Mr. Stark..."  
"Off the stairs, now!" Tony growled. Mr. Worthington had been inching closer to Iceman, and the boy was inching away, his hands starting to shake and the banister behind him beginning to freeze over.  
Mr. Worthington's eyes narrowed and he walked down the stairs to stand before the man known as Iron Man. Tony shifted his stance ever so slightly; ready for a battle.  
"Why are they even here?" He asked Tony. "They're criminals."  
Iceman clutched the banister, frost creeping up and down the carved wood. Pepper watched him with wide eyes, unsure what to do.  
"They're kids who have been abandoned by their families," Tony replied coldly. "This is a...safe haven or something."  
"Give me back my son," Mr. Worthington hissed, "I want to talk with Warren. Now."  
"I don't know anyone named Warren," Stark said.

Mr. Worthington glared and said coldly, "They boy with the damn wings."  
"_Damn _wings?" Pepper repeated angrily.  
Iceman lost it. "Those wings are his life!" He shouted, "And you wanted him to cut them off! You..."  
"Shut up, freak!" Mr. Worthington shouted back, "You know you're a criminal! You faked your own death and broke your mother's heart!"

Iceman lunged down the stairs, outstretching his hand - and X grabbed his arm and yanked it down. The ice coated the bottom half of the stairs.  
"Bobby," X whispered, "Stop."  
Iceman yanked his arm free and dashed up the stairs.

"Out!" Stark shouted. "Get out of my house!"  
"If you don't allow me to see my son," Mr. Worthington threatened. "I'll back out of the deal and..."  
"What deal?" Pepper asked. She ripped the papers in half and let the worthless contract fall to the ground. "We don't make deals with abusive parents."  
Mr. Worthington went very still and looked at her. "I'll set the media on you."  
"Even try that and your company will collapse," Stark promised. "Iron Man always wins."  
Mr. Worthington turned without a word and walked out. Suddenly he turned and shouted up the stairs, "You'll all find yourselves in jails or labs! Mutants have no place in this world!"  
"Out!" Tony and Pepper shouted.

He left. Tony kicked a table and broke a vase. Pepper ranted angrily for 15 minutes. Then, they looked at each other and wondered what to do.

Angel - born as Warren Worthington III - stood on the roof of Avengers Tower and watched his father leave. He could imagine that man fuming in the car, his brow furrowed as he thought of who to sue and who to pay off. Imagined him going home and walking up to his mother, kissing her - he never did doubt that his parents loved being married, although he wasn't sure if they loved each other. Imagined his father's thin lips against her ear, whispering, "I saw him. The worthless boy." Imagined his super-model mother, who hid him away so that magazines wouldn't talk, pressing her lips together angrily. Imagined them talking about him, imagined how they had wished he had died...how they'd want him back now that they knew he was alive. How they'd want to do what they had always threatened...what they had done...!

A sob tore itself from his throat as he remembered...

"Warren?" Bobby's voice was low, he must have followed Warren up the stairs, "Are you...?" His voice trailed off. He didn't need to be Charles to see how much pain his friend was in.  
"They clipped my wings when I was younger," Warren whispered.  
"What?"  
"Like they do to birds. Clip the ends of the feathers so the bird can't fly away. They grounded me - literally. That's why I couldn't fly before. And then I was so afraid that they didn't need to clip them - I basically just..."  
"Clipped your spirit yourself," another voice whispered. Alex had followed Bobby up to the roof. Warren nodded, watching that car drive away.  
"You're not grounded anymore, man," Bobby said. "Go ahead and fly."

Warren let himself fall off the building. He snapped open his wings and shot into the air, powerful strokes taking him high above the clouds. Then he lost it and screamed to the sky.

It wasn't fair. Even after all this time, it hurt to see his dad look at him that way.

Bobby watched Warren disappear into the clouds and sighed.  
"Lucky," he muttered, tightening his hands into fists, frost covering his fingers.

_"You broke your mother's heart."  
I didn't mean to, mom. I didn't...  
_  
Spark came up behind him and hugged him around his chest, like she always had since they were old enough to walk. Bobby gently unclasped her hands and she flinched away from the cold.  
He froze and stepped away from her.  
"Sorry," she said, "I didn't..."  
"I know," he said. He looked at his hands, willing the ice to fade but he was too worked up. It just crystallized more.

_Even my best friend.._.he thought.

"I'd almost forgotten that I'd faked my death," he whispered.  
"That was an awful week for everyone," Alex replied quietly.  
"It was better for my family," Bobby said, even as tears sprang into his eyes. He'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time and gotten between two gangs. They'd tried to kill him; they didn't want witnesses. He'd used his powers. He'd been caught on a police camera and blamed for the dead bodies found in the same alley - the people the gangs had killed. Damn circumstantial evidence that was refuted later but at the time no one had cared enough to check. The police had come after him. Everyone had come after him. Bobby Drake had died that day and Iceman had been born.

Alex didn't reply and gave him a proper hug.  
"Alex," Bobby protested, hiding his hands behind his back.  
"I know you better," she replied into his neck.  
Bobby gave up and hugged her back. She was right, he needed this. She didn't flinch from the cold that time.  
When he pulled away, the ice was gone. Alex smiled and shook snow off her shirt.

"I know you didn't have to come with us, Alex," Bobby told her. "But I'm glad you ran away with us."

She sighed and looked at the sky. "Scott says that, too. That I could have led a normal life – my power is relatively easy to hide and I rarely get worked up enough to just cause things to happen. But, Bobby, what kind of life would that have been?"

He shrugged; "I don't know."

"I couldn't have done it," she said. "Especially knowing that my two brothers were out there starving or hurt."

Bobby hugged her again. He knew that she thought of him as a brother, he felt that way about her. But it felt damn good to hear someone say it. He needed a family.

"...stupid, stupid conceited billionaire got his ass out of my house!" Tony finished ranting. Pepper nodded, agreeing with Tony's somewhat roundabout but accurate story of that morning.

It was late evening and all the kids were upstairs sleeping.

At Tony's conclusion, the room was silent.  
Banner's lips were pressed together in a thin line. Clint looked angry, and Natasha seemed vaguely shocked.  
But Steve looked absolutely livid. He opened and closed his mouth several times before he finally said, "Can he actually take him? Legally."  
"I dunno," Tony said, a bit deflated.  
"But we're not going to let him," Pepper said fiercely.  
"The other things he said," Natasha interrupted. "The raping and blowing up a house? What was that about?"  
"Iceman said it was a lie," Tony said.  
But if one of them actually kidnapped another?" Natasha argued.  
"Do you see X letting them hang around if that was the case?" Steve demanded.  
"He wouldn't," a low voice said from the door.

They all looked to see Cyclops leaning against the door frame.  
"And nobody kidnapped anybody," he said wearily. "That was a terrible lie they made up to explain Spark's disappearance." The young man walked inside the room and perched on the arm of the couch. It suddenly struck Banner how tired the boy looked. As if the topic had aged him by ten years. He'd seen Cyclops' smile earlier today, during the lecture. And had enjoyed talking with both Beast and Cyc on the way home when they stopped to buy hot-dogs. Now, admitting to the past they'd tried to keep hidden, the boy looked exhausted.

"Mr. Worthington was talking about Spark?" Pepper asked.  
Cyc nodded.  
"And..." Tony asked, "Would he have recognized you too?"  
Another nod, much more hesitantly.  
"You, Spark, Iceman and Angel knew each other before you all ran away."  
Another nod, this one accompanied by a sad smile.  
"The newspapers had a field day," Angel said harshly as he entered the room. Iceman and Spark followed him. Spark sat down next to Bruce and leaned against Cyclops. Iceman leaned back against a table, bracing himself with his hands and Angel sat on a chess table that was a recent addition to the room.

"Four Youths missing in the span of a few short days!" Bobby quoted, sounding like the news anchor on CNN. "Local police suspect group kidnapping!"  
"Nothing interesting had ever happened in that town before," Spark said softly.  
"It's why we moved there," Angel added bitterly. "My damn parents thought that people wouldn't find out about me...less paparazzi following them around and all that." He paused. "It's funny, they never wanted people to find out about me but they didn't kill me or anything."  
Pepper gasped. "But...but they're your parents! How can you even..."  
"You met my dad," he snapped. "Mom wasn't any better. All they ever did was..." Angel's voice choked and he stopped.  
"All they ever did was make me - him - too afraid to be himself," X finished for him. X walked into the room with Wolverine right behind him and the two sat down on either end of the chess table.

"It's a common story," Wolverine said bitterly. "We tend to scare people away."  
"How'd the house get blown up?" Asked Natasha. Pepper shot her a look that Natasha chose to ignore. If these kids were dangerous she needed to know.  
Everyone looked at Cyclops and he slowly reached up to touch his glasses. The red material that hid his eyes glinted in the electric light of the lamps. "I've never had any control over it," he said. "And the first time...I'd had headaches for days. Those kind that have you out cold in bed and hungry cause you're too nauseous to eat. Dad came home, had a bit too much to drink and...and lost it with me. I yelled back, he yelled harder and then, suddenly the pressure was just..." Cyclops swallowed hard and dropped his hand. "I thought I was dying. Then the house was gone..." He stopped, as looked at X.  
X finished for him. "So he ran away with his eyes closed...most of the time. Periodically blowing things up and then laid low till we caught up with him. Beast made him the glasses."  
"The story they made up was that he kidnapped me," Spark said bitterly. The light near her flickered and she scooted away from it, leaning more into Cyclops. It was obvious that the media's story couldn't have been more untrue. Cyc would never hurt his little sister.

"I faked a suicide," Iceman said. He tried to say it airily, as if it were a minor detail. But his voice was strained.  
"Why?" Asked Banner.  
Iceman shrugged. "Lynch mob came after me after a little accidental display of my powers." His hands were shaking with emotion he could barely control, and the counter begins gleamed with a light coating of frost.

"I won't go back," Angel told the adults. "If you're even considering that option right now, tell me and I'll leave."  
"More people than you will leave," Scarlet said. She, Quicksilver and Beast entered the room and sat around. Stark decided that he should just always assume they were all awake.  
"Everyone else is asleep," X told him. "Although Sprite having nightmares."  
"Is she...?"  
"She'll be okay, Pepper," X assured her. They'll fade soon. Tomorrow she won't even remember it."  
"Too bad some nightmares are worse in real life," Quicksilver said bitterly.

Beast suddenly cut in, "We can't all stay here. Not now that Mr. Worthington knows where we are. It puts everyone at risk."  
"You mean I should leave and stop ruining your life," Angel said harshly.  
"I wasn't thinking that!" Beast protested.  
"Yeah right," Angel snorted.  
"He wasn't thinking that," X said wearily.  
Angel grimaced. "Sorry, Beast," he muttered.  
Beast nodded and continued, "If he tells the media..."  
"I discredit him," Tony growled.  
"If he goes to the courts..." Beast tried again.  
"We go all SHIELD on him," Steve said darkly. "I'm not letting him get ahold of you. He has no right..."  
"He's my father," Angel said harshly. "He does have the right."  
"Not anymore," Steve said. Angel snorted. "As I said, SHIELD," Steve finished.  
"What do you mean?" Asked Beast.

X narrowed his eyes, looking at Steve Rogers with confusion, "Papers? What papers?"  
"He's right," Clint said. "At least if he's thinking what I'm thinking, SHIELD can give you new identities and everything."  
"But we'd need a good reason for it," Natasha said, "Or it won't get approved. But we can try. It's high time you kids convince Fury yourselves."

"What do you mean?" Cyclops echoed Beast's earlier statement.  
"Who's Fury?" Asked Spark.  
"The director of SHIELD," all the adults chorused along with X.  
"Why?" Asked Quicksilver.  
"What?" Steve frowned at him.  
"Why would we get papers?"  
"Why wouldn't you?" Asked Steve. "I thought none of you could go home, son."  
"Stop that," snapped Quicksilver. "I'm not your son."  
Steve blinked, surprised and a bit put off, but pressed on. "You won't ever be made to return if you get these passes."  
"Like a green card?" Asked Iceman.  
"More like international immunity," X said slowly, trying to understand the memories and contradicting ideas in the minds of the adults, "Right?"  
Natasha shrugged, "Maybe."

"Why?" Scarlet demanded, repeating what her twin had said, "Why go to all that trouble for us?"  
"Isn't the fact that you ran away and need help reason enough?" Pepper asked gently.  
All the kids shook their heads and Wolverine laughed harshly. "It's never been enough," he said. "People come up with a million reasons to hate us. Never a reason to help us."  
"Give me one of them," demanded Tony.  
Wolverine bared his teeth. "We're mutants," he said.  
"Freaks," Iceman added.  
"Worthless," Angel whispered.  
"Thieves," the twins chorused.  
"Unnatural, lab-rats," Beast added.  
"Dangerous," Cyclops said in a hushed voice.  
"Not worth anyone's time, anyone's understanding," Spark finished. "People don't even _try_ to understand."

"People are stupid!" Tony burst out. "Listen all of you," he caught the eyes of every young person and glared at them. "You're different, yes. And you have a mutated gene, but so what? It doesn't make you evil. Maybe you're a bit not in control, so you can learn to control your powers, god dammit. You can learn how to use them! And then use them to help people and save the world and other stuff like that!"  
"You don't need to be afraid of what you can do." Bruce jumped in when Tony paused for air. "And I know about being afraid of yourself. And I admit, I'm still not comfortable with the other guy...with the Hulk. But I'm learning. And I have more control when I'm unafraid. More control when I accept that he is there and let his instincts take over...let him drive and I'm just the navigator. We get where we want eventually. You kids have got to so the same thing - act on instinct! But keep control..."  
"You can't do both!" Scarlet interjected. "It's impossible."  
"Not it's not," said Clint. "Train yourself to work with the instinct. To know exactly what your body will demand and work with it. It does no good to be able to shoot if you don't have a target. Your body - muscle memory - can do the shooting, it's your mind that finds the target."  
"And it's okay to make a mistake once in a while," Natasha added. "Just learn from them. Learn how much you can do, how far you can go."  
"Learn who you trust," Pepper added. "You're not alone. You don't have to be alone in using your powers either."  
"And then go out and do something amazing," Tony said. He pointed to the window, to the NYC sky-line that was so bright it drowned out the stars. Hundreds of people in their homes. "Go show all those unbelievers just how important you are. You think they can take down a group of aliens from who-knows-where-agard? The world needs kids like you. Who rescue people because you can, even though the world seems to have turned its back on you. One day, crowds are going to cheer your name and make action figures out of you!" Tony finally stopped, breathing hard.

It was silent for a long moment. The adults wondering what those kids were thinking. The light next to Spark flickered and then shone much brighter than it ever had before. A steady, strong glow.  
"What is it?" Pepper asked her kindly.  
"It's just," Spark whispered, her eyes shining in the lamp-light, "No one has ever believed in us before."

All of the Avengers felt vaguely embarrassed. Pepper felt angry at whoever this parents were and wished vehemently that, wherever they were, they felt ashamed of themselves.  
"You're safe here," Steve promised. Clint looked at Natasha, and the Black Widow discreetly nodded. X looked down, a grin spreading across his face.  
"Thank you," Angel whispered.

One by one, the youths filed out of the room and climbed into their respective rooms.  
Iceman shook his head that Pyro, his room-mate, had been asleep during the entire thing.  
Spark went to check on the three youngest girls, and also peeked into Panther's and Nighshade's room. They were sound asleep.

And a few minutes later, when they were all once again in bed, X thought at them what he asked every night: Should we stay?  
For the first time ever, the answers were immediate and completely sure.  
Yes.  
Maybe forever, Spark added wistfully.  
X smiled to himself. _Maybe._


	6. Chapter 7

Author's Note: I don't own Marvel or Avengers or X-Men or the song from Frozen

So I don't like long Author's notes but I think you get the most out of this chapter if you look up "Let It Go" from Frozen on YouTube and watch it before reading the chapter.

Review? Please and thank you

**Chapter 7: Sing-a-long  
**  
Thor returned from his trip that week with two things: Jane Foster and a guitar.  
Storm, who adored Thor, instantly took to Jane and followed her everywhere for the week that she stayed. But that guitar...  
"Thor," demanded Tony, "Why do you have that?"  
"Friend Marcy said I should take up a human hobby," Thor explained. "I have always enjoyed music and decided to do something that invokes those happy memories while on earth."  
"Marcy got a used one from somewhere," Jane added. "I couldn't un-convince either of them."  
"Who's going to teach you?" Tony asked.  
"I will learn from the information-sharing magic on the glass-metal sheets that go on top of laps," Thor explained, eyes twinkling.  
"Was that a laptop?" Beast asked.  
"That's a good description," said Steve.  
Jane looked at him, "I thought we went over that those are computers."  
Thor smiled at her and she laughed, hitting him lightly on the arm. "You did that on purpose," she accused, laughing. Thor laughed too and everyone else grinned - his booming laugh was quite contagious. 

Suddenly, a few tentative chords were heard coming from the old acoustic. Everyone turned to see X sitting on the ground with the guitar. He made a face at the sound and tightened a few more strings. He strummed again and, satisfied that it was in tune, began to play.  
"Today is gonna be the day that I'm gonna bring it back to you..."  
"Oasis, Wonder wall," breathed Spark.  
"That's too slow for wonderwall," Beast interjected. It was true, X was playing it much more slowly, more sweetly, like a soft love-song. By the time he was finished almost all the occupants of the tower were listening.  
X smiled at Thor, "It's a good instrument."  
"Keep it then," Thor said. "It suits you better."  
He ignored all of X's protests and the conversation ended with X thanking him profusely. It'd been too long since he'd touched an instrument.

That night, after dinner, no matter what Spark said, Storm would not give up.  
"But you like singing!" The grey-eyed girl begged. "Please, please!"  
"Storm," Spark sighed putting down the National Geographic Magazine that had an article featuring Tony Stark's new green technology, "Please may I finish this article?"  
Storm stood there and looked so crestfallen that Spark found herself dog-earring the page and putting the magazine down. "What would you like me to sing?"  
"That one song from the movie we watched a few days ago," Storm said eagerly. "Sprite said you were practicing in the shower." Spark shook her head, smiling.  
"C'mon," she told the little girl, "Not in this room." She stood and offered Storm her hand, which Storm happily took.  
"Can we come?" Asked Nightshade from the corner where he and Phoenix were coloring.  
"Of course," Spark said. "Night, do you know where the music room is?"  
"Uh..." Nightshade wrinkled his nose, "The room with the piano that was Pepper's fathers'? With a big ole' balcony?"  
"That's the one."  
"On Tony and Pepper's floor, right?"  
"Yup."  
"Uh-huh." He nodded.  
"Pop the girls over there, will you? I've got to get someone else." 

Nightshade nodded and Phoenix grabbed his hand. He offered Storm the other hand, and she went to him after giving Spark's hand a happy squeeze.  
Spark shook her head and then went into Beast's room to ask a favor. Of course, X heard it all on his "mind-radar" as Tony had begun to call it and joined them with the guitar. Curious eyes watched them from the other rooms - none of them ever shut their doors during the day unless they were changing. They hated being closed in.

Spark walked into the music room - a large room with a great big balcony and several chairs plus room for dancing - with Beast and Charles in tow.

Phoenix jumped up and down with excitement. "This is gonna be amazing!"  
Spark laughed, "If you say so, Phoenix!"  
Beast sat down at the piano and flexed his fingers.  
"You play the piano?" Nightshade demanded, eyes wide.  
"Of course it's only...Er...it comes naturally to me, too," Beast said, cutting out the scientific lingo. He knew Night didn't care for it and he didn't mind pleasing the little kids. All of them had a soft spot for Storm, Phoenix and Nightshade. Those three little bundles of energy had made some of their hardest nights worth it. It was easier to be brave when you were comforting someone else.  
X sat down on the floor and tuned his guitar and Beast played a short scale. They looked at Spark.  
"Ready?" 

Spark took a deep breath and nodded. Beast began to play the first few notes of the song. A sad, sweet melody that sounded like snow-fall on a distant mountain. A curious Bruce Banner leaned against one door while Iceman and Wolverine wandered in through the other as Spark began: 

"The snow glows white on the mount' tonight  
Not a footprint to be seen  
A kingdom of isolation,  
And it looks like I'm the queen..."

Charles began to strum the guitar, adding a second layer to the haunting music. Bruce quietly told Jarvis to get the other Avengers' up there.

"The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside  
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried..."

Her voice was choked with emotion, her own experiences with her powers making her sensitive to the words of the song. The twins walked in with Panther and Sprite in tow.

"Don't let them in, don't let them see  
Be the good girl you always have to be  
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know..." 

Spark looked up at the ceiling and raised her hands:

"Well, now they know!"

And the light flickered then shone strong, much stronger than normal. And Charles' voice mixed with hers in a simple harmony and Iceman sent a stream of frost across the ground so at the next words, snow seemed to appear at Spark's feet. Spark half-laughed but didn't stop singing:

"Let it go, let it go!  
Can't hold it back anymore.  
Let it go, let it go  
Turn away and slam the door!.."

"I don't care  
What they're going to say!"

Wolverine was singing softly too and Cyclops and Pyro entered the room. The Avengers plus Jane and Pepper all gathered outside the half-closed second door. Listening.

"Let the storm rage on!"

Then, in tandem with both X and Iceman, smiling:

"The cold never bothered me anyway!"

Beast jammed out on the piano, happily playing the melody.

"It's funny how some distance  
Makes everything seem small  
And the fears that once controlled me  
Can't get to me at all!"

Electricity jumped from the lamp into Spark's hand to shine like a ball of sunlight in her palm. The rain that had been threatening all day began to fall and Angel threw open the doors to the balcony. Quicksilver sped away and returned with a wooden crate that had earlier held about 5 dozen eggs and began using it like a drum, keeping perfect time with the others.

"It's time to see what I can do  
To test the limits and break through!"

Snow was covering the ground in patterns and Storm, too excited to sit still, ran to stand in the rain with Angel who had flung open his wings. The two smiled as each other and chimed in on the next lines:

"No right, no wrong, no rules for me  
I'm free!

Let it go, let it go  
I am one with the wind and sky  
Let it go, let it go  
You'll never see me cry!

Here I stand  
And here I'll stay  
Let the storm rage on!"

As the bridge started Storm's eyes turned silver and thunder boomed overhead. She laughed with exhilaration as the wind picked up.

"My power flurries through the air into the ground  
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around  
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast!"

Every teenager in that room, even Panther although he muttered it quietly, said with feeling:

"I'm never going back!  
The past is in the past!"

Scarlet finally cracked and slowly, deliberately, with a smile on her face, began to elevate the tables and chairs in the room.

"Let it go, let it go  
And I'll rise like the break of dawn  
Let it go, let it go  
That perfect girl is gone!"

"Here I stand!"

Wolverine finally sang in full voice and revealed that he too, has a good singing voice.

"In the light of day!  
Let the storm rage on!"

Storm laughed and lightning flashes across the sky.

"The cold never bothered me anyway!"

Iceman shouted the last line triumphantly and Beast ended the song with flare.

For a minute, there was only ragged breathing. Angel walked inside the room and shook his wings like a dog who had fallen into the pool. Scarlet carefully lowered everything to the ground. Everyone looked at each other and started to laugh.

Tony came in, applauding.  
"That was amazing," said Pepper with awe. "But sweet-heart, why don't you come in?" She told Storm.  
Storm giggled and walked inside, dripping water all over the wooden floor, melting the frost-patterns Iceman had made.  
"Ah, Storm," Iceman teased, "Now you've gotta change again."  
"It was worth it," she said happily.  
She ran and gave Spark a wet hug and Spark returned it, smiling.  
"Get going silly thing," she told her. Pepper led the yawning little kids back to their rooms and Spark leaned on the piano.  
"What else do you know?" She asked Beast.  
He smiled and began to play "Wonderwall" as X had that morning. X joined in and Spark began to sing, her voice soft and melodic in the room as the rain slowed to a trickle outside.

Tony abruptly turned and left. Steve caught a glimpse of the man's determined expression and followed him.  
"What is it, Stark?" Steve asked.  
"We're going to train them," Tony said.  
"The kids?"  
"Yeah. I'm not letting them be afraid of their powers for the rest of their lives. They deserve better than that."  
"I agree," said Steve. "What's the plan?"  
Tony grinned at his friend. "Well, I've been working on something..." 


	7. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Still don't own Marvel and Marvel's things.

**Chapter 8: Presents and Training  
**  
The next morning at breakfast, all of the adults were down well before the kids. Which was strange because Tony liked to sleep in and Steve usually went out running and wasn't back until later.  
Charles took one look at them and began smiling, so the others instantly knew that everything was okay...except for Scarlet. She didn't trust X's definition of what was okay. Truth be told, staying in one place so long always scared her. When you stay put, people can recognize you. 

"Here's the deal," Tony began as the kids grabbed stacks of waffles and bacon. "If you're going stay, you've got to learn how to use your powers."  
"And we want you to stay," Pepper added in a hurry. Glaring at Tony for his preamble.  
"And we want to train you up a bit," Steve said, sounding very much like "Captain America."  
"Is that an ultimatum?" Asked Beast.  
"An ultima-what?" Phoenix asked.  
"What do you mean by training?" Asked Wolverine.  
"What we've been doing," Clint told him. "Learning how to fight, building endurance, stuff like that. But with more powers."  
"I like the sound of that," said Wolverine, looking at his knuckles. All the kids voiced their agreement, even Scarlet after a glance from Quicksilver. All of them, except... 

"Cyclops?" Prompted Pepper.  
The oldest young man sighed, fingering his glasses. "It's too dangerous for me to practice my powers."  
"Cyc..." Spark tried.  
"You know I..." Cyclops interrupted her.  
"Hold it both of you," Tony said. He slid a small rectangular box down the table at Cyclops. "Open that, Cyclops. Then tell me what you think."  
Cyclops looked doubtful but opened it. Everyone leaned forward to see. Nestled inside was a metal visor with a slit made of the red crystals used for Scott's glasses. With a small dial the allowed for the glass to be raised at will.  
"So you can control how much of that laser you're shooting around," Tony explained.  
"We also reinforced one of the walls downstairs with a thin layer of the crystal," Bruce added. "You can practice down there without any fear of hurting anyone."  
"There's more than one way to learn control," Thor added thoutfully, thinking of another lifetime. Of another boy with abilities who he had called a brother...  
"I..." Cyclops seemed shocked. He closed his eyes and changed his glasses for the visor. "I...thank you. I don't know if this will work but thank you." 

"It will work," Tony said with confidence. "Now!" He clapped his hands and everyone jumped. "A few more presents!"  
"Presents!" Squealed the little girls.  
"What?" Said just about everyone else.  
Tony tossed Spark a small box and she caught it. She opened it and her eyes became huge.  
"Oh!" She pulled out a small glowing cube on the end of a silver chain. "You can't seriously...I can't take this!"  
"What is it?" Asked Natasha.  
"A miniature reactor," Beast said enviously.  
"Don't be stu...Er...silly," Tony corrected himself with a glare from Pepper. "I can make more. And I don't want you blasting apart cell-phones." 

There were gifts for everyone. Some more impressive than others, all meaningful. 

A metal staff for Panther, special order from Natasha who said she was pleased by his progress.  
Wristbands for Pyro that enabled him to simply flick his wrist in order to light fire in his hands - eliminating the need for a lighter.  
A specially made coat for Angel that hid his wings more fully and a hoodie for Nightshade. A new computer for Beast.  
New Nikes for Quicksilver and a coupon under Tony Stark's name to get more shoes because "I've noticed that you wear them down."  
Scarlet, Sprite and Phoenix got new dresses that Jane and Pepper had picked out. Plus, Scarlet got a thick headband to hold back her hair when she used her powers.  
Iceman got a leather bracelet that had a small thermometer hidden on the inside. "Not for the cold, but for the heat," Banner told him. "You get over-heated, right?" Iceman had been beyond surprised that they'd noticed.  
Wolverine got a leather coat.  
Storm got a beautiful rain-coat.  
And X got new Stark brand headphones because "Those ear-buds of yours are a load of crap."

Finished with the gifts and with breakfast, the Avengers divided up the kids and sent them running upstairs and downstairs to train.  
They thought Phoenix's tight hug across each of their waists - even Jane who was still there - was the best thank you they could ever get. They were wrong. Though they didn't know it yet.

The rest of June, July and August passed in a steady stream of training the youths, going on missions, and actually enjoying life.

Cyclops went from being completely terrified of his power to being able to hit precision targets as small as a large dragonfly. The first time he did that Tony had cheered so loudly that Clint had proceeded to tackle him to the floor. That move had left the Cyclops gasping for air because he'd laughed so hard. The two Avengers' high-fived each other for that.

Spark had gathered enough control to manipulate electricity with her hands and could gather it into a whip of energy that she could manipulate after training with Natasha a bit.

Angel, Iceman, Pyro, Quicksilver, Wolverine - truth be told they didn't need much help with their powers per say, but their fighting skills improved, as did their, as Clint called it, "Fighting instinct." Knowing when to fight and when to run.

Surprisingly, Jane and Pepper helped Scarlet and Phoenix the most. Although Phoenix wasn't included as much in the training. Sprite learned how to phase only parts of her body and how to stay put when she was scared. Nightshade learned how to teleport more quietly. Panther was such a skilled staff-fighter that even Natasha couldn't beat him anymore.

Thor helped Storm perfect her powers over the rain and lightning.  
Beast spent almost every moment he wasn't learning how to fight, helping Banner or Stark in the lab.

And X...  
It was mid-August. The United Nations were making a ruling on Syria and everyone was glued to the TV.  
Suddenly, X's head snapped up and he said, a second before one of the delegates on TV did:  
"The situation is unavoidable."  
Everybody looked at X.  
Cyclops muted the TV.  
X put his hand on his temple and grinning, began to say what the people on TV were saying. People all the way in DC.  
Spark whooped and hugged him. X let his hand fall and grinned happily. Everyone began laughing and applauding. He hadn't had an attack in almost three months.

But training wasn't all they did. Coney Island and Broadway and picnics. Going surfing and museums and hiking in the nearby Appalachian Trails. Fishing and boating and going to visit Phil Coulson.

Summer ended. 

Every youth had put in muscle and smiled a lot more. They still had triggers though. Angel saw his father on TV and went flying for three hours. Scarlet turned off the TV when police reports came up and ignored Thor's questions. Phoenix awoke screaming in the night. Spark or Beast disabled Jarvis and talked with one or two other kids behind a locked door.  
But they stayed.  
They stayed and called it home.

And when Pepper's birthday came around at the beginning of September they gave her a scrapbook filled with pictures of "the family." It had all the Avengers. And all the kids.  
Pepper cried.

Then Tony proposed.  
Pepper hit him with the scrapbook and said yes.

Sprite was so excited that she used her powers and slid all the way to the basement and had to come running back up.  
Jane cried. Phoenix couldn't understand why she was crying. Thor understood it even less. It was a great night.

Then the Director of SHIELD came to visit... 


	8. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Still don't own Marvel things.

Chapter 9: And Then It Was...

...October

Preparing lunch was always a crazy affair at Avengers' tower. Making lunch when preparing for visitors was hectic. Cooking lunch when preparing for visitors AND all of the adults that lived in the tower - which meant that the ones cooking were Beast, Scarlet and Cyclops - was one step away from insane.

"No, no, no!" Cyclops shouted over his shoulder, busy flipping steak on the grill Tony had set up on one of the patios. "I need onions and garlic! Please, Pyro just trust me on this one."  
"I trust you to beat up an alien that's trying to kill me," Pyro replied dryly. "I don't trust your cooking."  
"That makes no sense!" Cyclops protested.

Downstairs, in the kitchen.  
"The stove, the stove, watch the stove!" Beast said, walking across the kitchen ceiling using the light fixtures and quickly taking off a pot of boiling water from the stove.  
"How's the corn?" Scarlet asked, bringing over a bowl filled with salad with her mind.  
"It's perfect!" Beast said. And then, "Careful with the lemonade!"  
It was a flurry of happy activity. Everyone doing something as they loaded the table with food. 

"They should be here in ten minutes!" Announced Phoenix.  
"You're that precise?" Sprite asked, surprised.  
Phoenix pointed at Jarvis and the AL said, "Mr. Stark just called in, I told Miss Phoenix the message.  
"That makes more sense," Sprite said, passing through the wall to grab napkins from the pantry.  
"And Pepper should get back from her meeting at that time, also!" Announced X, setting down the phone. He looked around, brushing over familiar minds with a joyful contentment as his friends' happiness fueled his own...and then he met another mind. A blocked off mind that had trained itself to withstand torture and truth-serums. It was like suddenly slamming into an invisible wall and X was so surprised that stopped dead in the middle of the hall. Wolverine walked into him, not expecting X to stop and would have dropped all the rolls he was carrying if Quicksilver hadn't sped over to steady the over-filled basket.  
"X!" Two voices complained.  
"He's here," X whispered, his face white.  
Wolverine was instantly on alert. "Who?"  
"Director Nick Fury from SHIELD."  
"What the hell does he want?!" Demanded Wolverine.  
"To...talk with us," X put a hand on his temple, concentrating on the confusing images he was getting from the man that was seconds away from knocking on the front door. "He...wants to see how much the reports from Nat and Clint left out...he keeps thinking that the reports stopped...he's very interested in us...very interested." X gulped. "I don't know whether that's good or bad...he literally has both opinions in his mind..."  
"Warn everyone," Quicksilver said.  
"Already done," said X. His last few words had been communicated telepathically with everyone.  
What do we do? asked Spark.  
We impress him, I guess said X. Cyclops?  
Tell Sprite to set one more place for lunch, Cyclops told X as he more or less calmly picked up the tray full of steak and had Iceman dose the grill. Let's just keep it together till the Avengers' get here, shall we?

The doorbell rang. Everyone gathered in the general area - some in the kitchen still, most in that first-floor living room/reception area, and Angel and Iceman on the stairs having an eerie sense of déjà vu from that day with Mr. Worthington.  
"Jarvis?" Said Spark.  
"Yes, Miss Spark?"  
"Please make sure you're recording this," she said. Then she opened the door.

Nick Fury, dressed in his normal black despite that it was a mild fall day, stood on their doorstep.  
"Miss Spark," he said. It wasn't a question.  
"Mr. Fury," she replied, matching his tone. "We were just setting the table for lunch, would you like to join us? I believe that all the adults plus Agent Coulson and Rhodey are on their way."  
"ETA six minutes to be exact," said Fury. "I may stay for lunch."  
He walked into the room and Spark closed the door behind him. X frowned. Something was off about Fury. 

Fury looked around. "Since you all know who I am, why don't you introduce yourselves?"  
"But you know who we are, don't you?" Asked Pyro defiantly. He was fingering the cuff on his hand, the one that had a lighter within it. It was a nervous habit. He wasn't stupid. He wasn't as close with everyone else as some people but he could tell X was nervous. X nervous made him nervous. Very nervous.  
"Maybe..." Said Fury.  
Phoenix seemed oblivious to the way all the older kids were watching Fury and began saying the names in happy chirps as she pointed at her family.  
"That's X and Spark and Cyc and Ice and Night and Scarlet is over there and Quicksilver and Pyro and Wolfy..."  
"Wolverine," the youth growled.  
"...and Sprite and I'm Phoenix and, and Panther and Beast and Angel and Storm and was that everyone?"  
"Yes, Phoenix," Cyclops told her.  
Jean X thought her real name to get her attention. The little girl froze. Go stand by Alex. Please. Stay with her.  
Okay Phoenix - Jean - thought whispered and scurried over to wrap her fingers around Spark's. Something in X's voice scared her and she was suddenly too afraid to look into the future. Maybe the glimpses of this dark man helping them had been wrong. Maybe the future had changed somehow. It happened all the time. 

"You know," Fury said, he wandered over to a chair and sat down. He tried to look as if he were making himself comfortable, but he sat on the edge of the chair. Angel's sharp eyes picked up the shape of a gun under his jacket. Clint and Natasha has the same bulge under their clothes. "Natasha was sending me reports but we got into a disagreement and she stopped. How goes the quest to perfect your powers?"  
"Well enough," Said Cyclops.  
"We might make good agents someday," Iceman added. Cyclops shot him a look. But I was a bit too late. Fury focused on him.  
"Do you want to be agents?"  
"Ah...not really. We're still kids," Iceman back tracked.  
"But someday?"  
"It's an option," Ice said. X thought him a desperate feeling of Shut up. 

"If you worked for SHIELD you would have, of course, the immunity that comes with it," Fury continued, glancing at Quicksilver.  
"What do you mean?" Sprite asked. The words slipped out before she could remind herself that the older kids didn't want to talk.  
"I mean anything you did before you began working for the…ah…organization…would become unimportant," Fury explained. "Any crimes or questionable back-stories would be erased. A fresh start. With a clean slate for wherever you wanted. Whenever you wanted." 

That sounded good to Pyro and everyone younger. It sounded like a flat out trap to the twins and Wolverine. It sounded as if it had a catch to just about everyone else.  
"What's the catch, director?" Asked Iceman.  
"No catch, it would come with the job."  
"The job is the catch," said X.  
"Maybe," said Fury. "But it is also an opportunity youths all around the world secretly train to receive. People are recruited for this. Consider this visit your recruitment call."  
"I really don't think we're ready for the type of job SHIELD performs, sir," said Cyclops.  
Fury frowned and X gulped.  
"Might I extract a promise of employment in the near future for some of you older men and women," he said delicately.  
"Not today, director," said Cyclops a bit coldly. He was really regretting letting Fury into the house. Where the hell were the Avengers? 

"Do you speak for everyone?" Fury asked, trying to meet the eyes of the other teens.  
"He does today," said X.  
"That's a shame," said Fury, "Because I really need some sort of proof that you won't turn out to be the worst idea Tony Stark has ever had."  
"What does that mean?" Demanded Angel.  
"He thinks we're going to kills the Avengers," said X, suddenly getting a clear view of Fury's thoughts. Or one thought anyway.  
"No!" Protested Storm. Panther hissed; the hair on his ears and tails standing on end.  
"We'd never do that!" Added Nightshade.  
"Why would we harm the only people who have ever accepted us?!" Demanded Iceman. 

"Why would you kill your own mother in cold blood?" Asked Nick Fury, looking straight at Scarlet and Quicksilver. "Answer me that, Wanda and Pietro?"  
Scarlet - Wanda - stopped breathing and Quicksilver - Pietro - swore. Then she ran up the stairs, pushing past Angel and Iceman.

Quicksilver rounded on Beast, "You said you got that stuff off the web!? That no one would find the info on us?!"  
"I did!" Beast protested.  
"It was difficult for a time but some of SHIELD's hackers are a match for you," Fury told the youth coolly. "Think of it as a warning. We know who you are. Who ALL of you are."  
Quicksilver was gone; upstairs with his sister. 

"Are you threatening us?" Wolverine growled.  
"Does it need to be a threat?" Asked Fury. He looked at Wolverine steadily. "You don't exactly have a clean record either, Logan."  
Wolverine narrowed his eyes, balling his hands into fists. His claws began to extend and Spark grabbed his wrist.  
Logan! X begged. Please don't! We can't risk alienating him!  
He's doing a fine job of doing it himself! Logan thought back. But he lowered his hands.  
"But if you agreed to work with SHIELD," Fury began again.  
"Work _with _not _for_?" Asked Cyclops. 

Fury looked at him steadily, "You have a sharp mind, Scott Summers."  
Cyclops flinched but asked, "What do want from us?"  
"Your help."  
Everyone looked at X. He shook his head. "I don't know, guys," he said. "I don't know. I'm sorry. It's too confusing."  
"Good to know my training paid off," Fury said dryly. X looked away.  
"If you don't come to some sort of agreement with SHIELD," Fury continued. "Then I can't guarantee your safety...or that the child-custody case we've been keeping off the media won't rule in the favor of your parents."  
That's when everyone lost it. 

Tony knew something was off when he saw the SHIELD agent leaning against a black car outside of his tower. Their tower. Avengers' tower. Whatever. There was a SHIELD agent and he didn't like it!  
"Jarvis," he said doing a fly-by, "What's going on in the house?"  
"Director Nick Fury of SHIELD is currently talking with the kids, sir," Jarvis replied.  
Tony got a bad feeling: "Are they okay?"  
"No, sir. They're losing control of their powers." 

Damn it. 

Tony activated the comm. "Hey everyone, Fury decided to pay a visit."  
"Wait till we get there!" Clint demanded, flying the quinjet onto the tower's helicopter pad.  
Tony landed and began disassembling the Iron Man suit. The group crowded into the elevator and Bruce felt his heart-rate shoot up. 

_Oh no.  
_

He knew that he always needed a good twenty-five minutes to fully get ahold of himself after a battle and it had been barely ten.  
_It's just an elevator with people I trust, calm down_; he told himself sternly. _Going to talk with someone I only half trust who is making people I care about upset_. That wasn't a helpful thought. Actually that was the definition of a stupid thing to think. His heart continued to race.

_ Calm down, big guy. We're all right. _

The elevator doors opened and they were instantly bombarded with the sound of little Phoenix sobbing, Storm crying, and just about everyone shouting.

_ All right? Yeah, right.  
_  
"Calm down! Calm down!" X was all-but screaming at his friends. "He wants this reaction out of us! Stop!"  
But his friends ignored him; furiously shouting at each other and Fury. Ice coated the stairs and the lights were flickering. Outside, storm clouds began to gather.

"Silence!" Thor boomed. It got quiet except for Phoenix's sobs. Spark picked her up and held her close.

The little girl cried into Spark's shoulder: "I don't wanna to back! I'll be a good girl, don't make me go back."  
Spark looked like she was about to cry and she snarled at Fury, "Don't you _dare_ make threats in order to manipulate us!"  
"What the hell are you doing in my house!" Tony growled at Fury. He stepped right up to the director of SHIELD and glared at him.  
"They invited me in," Fury said coolly.  
"Our mistake!" Hissed Iceman. He was actually restraining Angel, up on the stairs, and both boys were covered in frost. Nightshade and the twins were nowhere to be seen.  
"Director, since when do you make house calls?" Clint asked stiffly. He went over to Pyro and gently grabbed the boy's wrist; a silent "knock it off," completely unafraid of the fire at the boy's fingertips.  
"This group called for special treatment," Fury said. "I wanted to make sure they completely understood what was at stake."

_ "What was at stake."  
_  
Blood roared in Banner's ears. 

Phoenix and Storm sobbing. Panther half-hidden in a corner; his hands clamped over his sensitive ears. X, his chest heaving, off to the side. The frost all over the ground.  
What was at stake was that Fury had completely destroyed the happiness they had tried so hard to secure for the kids, THEIR kids. Fury had no right, _no right!  
_  
Fury was talking again, Natasha was interrupting. Steve had grabbed Cyclops by the shoulder and was attempting to find out exactly what was going on. Banner caught the words, "parental custody."  
And **Hulk **was not pleased.

"No!" Bruce roared. Everyone froze. He was breathing hard, struggling to control it but determined to speak his mind. "You have no right to walk in here and scare them with your talk of how SHIELD can or cannot change their lives! They are under our protection and you knew...!"  
"Dr. Banner," Fury said evenly, reaching slowly for his gun, "Please calm yourself."  
"Don't touch the gun!" X shouted, his eyes on Banner.  
"Get out of our house!" Bruce roared. "Get out..." His skin was turning green, he was losing control. Storm whimpered.  
"Big guy, get a grip," Tony said soothingly, "Don't tear up the tower we just finished fixing it after the Loki thing."  
"We are not your enemies, friend Bruce," Thor added.  
"Get...Fury...out," Bruce hissed, his eyes screwed shut. _Calm thoughts, calm thoughts...  
_ Fury stood to go and Sprite flinched away from him.

_ Calm thoughts...yeah, no  
_  
Hulk roared and began to break through, desperate to protect the people he cared about.  
Tony snapped his wrists and the pieces of his iron man suit came flying down the stairs. Thor reached out his hand for his hammer and the SHIELD agents drew their guns/bow. Steve swung his shield off his back. 

_Get him out of the house_, everyone thought. 

But before they could move, before even Banner was fully transformed into Hulk, X ran across the room, leapt over the low coffee table and grabbed Bruce's head with both hands.  
His hands spread over Bruce's temple like a Vulcan mind-meld. X concentrated. 

Everyone froze. The two were locked in a silent mental struggle.  
Sweat began to gather on X's temple but he didn't back away. Suddenly, the green began to fade from Bruce's skin. His muscles shrank down and he blinked a few times coming into himself.  
"It worked," said X faintly, a smile on his face. Then he collapsed. Bruce caught him and gently laid the young man on the ground. Spark and Wolverine ran over. Bruce already had a finger on his pulse.  
"He's fine," he assured them. "Just worn out." 

"That was perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone do," said Fury. "But maybe the bravest." He stood and was almost out the door when he turned and said; "Agents Barton and Romanov, report the SHIELD headquarters tomorrow."  
The agents were silent.  
"Barton! Romanov!" Fury snapped.  
"Yes, sir," they answered curtly. If only to get him to get his ass out of the house. Fury left.

There was silence and Beast sighed, "Maybe we should eat before the food gets cold, huh?"  
Phil Coulson came inside and took in the frost on the stairs, X on the floor, as lots of tears frozen on faces.  
"Good God, what happened?" Coulson demanded.  
Sprite let out a sob and raced upstairs. Most everyone followed. Cyclops said in a terse voice as Pepper and Jane came in, followed by Rhodey, "Jarvis, replay the events since Fury rang the doorbell."


	9. Chapter 10

Author's Note: I don't own Marvel's trademarks or copyrights.

**Chapter 10: And So We Go**

Scarlet stood in the middle of her trashed room.

"Let it go," she whispered harshly.

She'd run upstairs and, despite her best efforts, her powers had exploded all over the place and it looked as if a tornado had roared through the place.  
Her chest was heaving, tears stinging her eyes as she finished ranting to her twin brother, Pietro. She hadn't thought of Quicksilver as Pietro in such a long time.  
"...we've got to leave! Right now!"  
"What good will that do, Wanda?!" Pietro hissed at her. "If they can find is again! Obviously Beast's little trick with the internet seems to have worn off or something..."  
"We can't stay!" She shrieked. The tears began to fall. She didn't want to leave but..."He'll take us to jail! Or worse!"  
"Stark won't let him," Pietro said firmly. "We've just gotta..."  
"You have to0 much faith in a drunken millionaire," Wanda spat. 

"Relax, sis," Pietro said. He meant to say it soothingly, but it came out harsh. He was scared too, damn, he was terrified! But they had to keep it together.  
"They aren't our real family!" Wanda snapped. "They won't look after us! We only have each other!"  
"Don't you trust me?" Pietro asked.  
Wanda nodded sullenly; "Yes."  
"Well, I trust the Avengers," he said. "Or at least Stark and Rogers and Banner and Pepper. Thor is insane and you never know with spies, but those four? I think the best thing is to stay put and..."  
"They've literally been training us!" Wanda pointed out angrily. "What do you think for!?"  
"So we can protect ourselves..." But Pietro's voice came out unsure. 

Wanda snorted. Pietro's temper flared.  
"We still can't just leave!" He said exasperated.  
"We always have before," she said in a low voice.  
"Yeah, but..."  
"And I thought you always ran away rather than face your problems," Wanda said nastily. Pietro froze.  
"What..?"  
"Isn't that why you left?" She told him, "You had no reason to come."  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Pietro snapped, "I went with you to protect you! Or don't you remember that you were terrified after IT happened?"  
"And now you never get too close to anyone!" Wanda plowed on, crying. She didn't know why she was being so nasty. But she was angry and scared and wanted so badly for it to just be over!  
"The only one who talks to people less than you is Pyro!" Wanda finished.  
"Don't you dare compare me to that freak," Pietro snapped. "And I don't see you buddying up with anyone either, you bitch." 

They both froze; silent, not breathing. 

Scarlet let out a yell and Quicksilver flew across the room and was slammed against the wall. He fell to the ground, his head ringing and sped out of the room before she could use her powers again. It had slipped out, the words their mother had always used. He hadn't meant them.  
"Scar!" He shouted, "Scarlet, I'm sorry!"  
Scarlet blasted open the doors and sent a heavy book soaring at his face. He ran to hide behind a couch.  
"Go away!" She shrieked and bolted the door. 

It was then that Quicksilver noticed that other kids had come back upstairs. Spark in particular was looking at him with wide eyes.  
He ran away, up to the roof, before anyone could ask him questions and wished fervently that X would keep his damn mind to himself.


	10. Chapter 11

Author's Note: I Don't own Marvel.

**Chapter 11: Fall**

Pyro was fully willing to kill people in order to avoid going back to Juvenile Hall. Which he knew made no sense since killing someone would get him into Juvenile Hall. But it was a harsh, angry instinct.  
And then... 

"_Don't compare me to that freak!"  
_

Even people he half-trusted. 

He was fully aware that the others weren't comfortable with him. Even Iceman, his room-mate, got fully irritated with him and went off with Angel or Spark. And he knew that they didn't like his moody silence. At least X kept the half-mad thoughts to himself. But Quicksilver really shouldn't push him right now...no, that mutant should know better.  
Seeing red from anger, Pyro got in the elevator and harshly punched the button for the top floor. To his further annoyance, Quicksilver was already up there. The older boy had his back to the elevator and was glaring at NYC in the afternoon sun that has driven everyone indoors.  
Quicksilver turned and seemed disappointed. "Oh. It's you."  
"Yeah, it's me." Pyro waited for an apology but realized that Quicksilver had no idea that he'd overheard them. That made him even angrier.  
"I feel like a bit of a duel," Pyro said airily, flicking on the lighters on his wrists. "What do you think?"

"It might make me feel better," Quicksilver admitted. He slid back into a comfortable fighting stance.  
"Powers?" He asked.  
Pyro bared his teeth and Quicksilver didn't like what he saw in those dark eyes; "Powers." Pyro agreed. Then he threw the fire at Quicksilver. 

Quicksilver sped behind him and attempted to grab him in a loose choke hold but the younger boy surrounded himself in flames and Quicksilver backed away. It went on for a while. Pyro couldn't catch him and Quicksilver couldn't get close to Pyro. 

His anger spent and more than a little annoyed, Quicksilver halted by the edge of the roof.  
"Truce?" He called.  
"Apologize!" Pyro hissed, the flames in his hands reflecting off his dark eyes.  
"Why?" Quicksilver demanded. He was tired. And hungry, very hungry - they'd never had lunch and using his powers always took a lot out of him.  
"Freak," Pyro spat.  
_Shit_, thought Quicksilver. "I was arguing with Scarlet. Mind your own business, kid," Quicksilver said. He hated people spying on him.  
"Apologize!" Shouted Pyro, throwing a handful of fire. Quicksilver easily dodged it, but it set some of the roof on fire - which meant that it was burning ridiculously hot.  
"Knock it off!" Quicksilver said. "I'm sorry, okay?"  
"Mean it!" Pyro shouted. More fire; it lit up the trailing oil from the quinjet.  
"Pyro," Quicksilver snapped. "Calm down! I'm sorry! The argument wasn't with you, it was with Scar and..."  
"You always run away, don't you?" Pyro asked nastily. "You always evade the question. One day you're gonna just abandon everyone, won't you?" Pyro bared his teeth and finished, "Even the Scarlet Witch, eh?"  
"Leave my sister out of it!" Quicksilver roared. He rushed at Pyro, determined to punch that smug, harsh look off Pyro's face. He had his hands on Pyro's arms, ready to shake some sense into him. 

But Pyro could withstand his own fire. The second Quicksilver was on him, he set his own clothing ablaze. 

Quicksilver screamed and let go. Instinctively running as far away from the blaze as he could. He dropped to the ground and rolled to put out the flames in a human instinct as old as time. Gasping he turned to shout at Pyro. To ask him if he was crazy...  
But the look in Pyro's eyes was answer enough. 

"Pyro! Stop!" Quicksilver shouted. His voice was raspy and desperate, choking on the smoke of the fire still burning on the roof. "I'm sorry!"  
Pyro didn't even respond, he extended his hands and once again dosed the roof in flames. Trying to avoid using his burned hands, Quicksilver rolled out of the way.  
Charles! Help! Please! Quicksilver thought-screamed desperately. But the mind reader didn't respond. And then Pyro was on him, wrapping flaming hands around his chest. Pyro was younger, but Quicksilver was thinner and already hurt. 

Quicksilver screamed in agony and tried to push him off; tried to wriggle away. But the boy had his flaming hands wrapped tight around his own and Quicksilver was only aware of the flaming pain. Only trying to get him off!  
Screaming, half-sobbing from the pain, Quicksilver hooked his foot around Pyro's leg and used his own weight to throw him around his shoulder. 

He meant to throw Pyro to the ground. 

But they were much closer to the edge of the roof than either had realized. 

Pyro's upper body slammed to the ground but his legs dangled in mid-air. He let out a strangled yelp as he began to slide, desperately scrabbling the smooth, burning concrete for purchase. Quicksilver threw himself forward and attempted to grab, Pyro's hands...his still burning hands. Pyro's eyes flared with madness and hate. Pyro pushed the fire to burn even hotter. Quicksilver screamed in agony and Pyro's hands slipped through his fingers.  
Pyro didn't even scream as he plunged down, down, down to the pavement below. 

Quicksilver curled up into fetal position among the burning asphalt, vaguely aware that the jet-plane was catching on fire. 

But it hurt. It hurt so much...he was screaming. He had to be screaming; crying out for help, his body actually shaking as he went into shock from the pain.

You're going to be fine! a soothing voice was suddenly in his mind, compelling his racing heart to slow. We're on our way.  
Where the hell..? Quicksilver couldn't even finish the thought, he was in so much pain.

I was unconscious Charles replied. Hold on, they're almost up there. 

And then Bruce Banner was talking to him in a soothing voice and Scarlet was at his side telling him he was an idiot and Iceman was putting out the flames and Spark had run to the edge of the roof to look down at Pyro's prone body and Quicksilver felt himself slip away...falling into the darkness at the edge of his vision... 


	11. Chapter 12

Author's Note: So that last chapter was one of my favorites. Please tell me what you thought. Sorry so much for waiting so long to post the rest of this. School and no wi-fi and all that fun stuff. But all the rest should be posted in the next few days. I'm begging for reviews. Please I won't hold chapters hostage (that annoys me to no end), however, if this is well received, I will post more short stories.

**Chapter 12: More Stuff About Pyro and the Roof  
**  
The kids disposed of the body themselves. In the craziness of treating Quicksilver's badly burned hands and the other second-degree burns all over his arms and chest and a few spots on his face, Angel and Wolverine simply took the body. They didn't say where...but the featured story that night was that the body of a youth that had disappeared from a Juvenile detention center in Ohio nearly fifteen months ago had been found badly burned and very dead on a beach in Jersey.  
"Locals found a bonfire that they said smelled odd," the news anchor said. "And some speculate that it looked like a funeral pyre..." 

Pepper muted the TV.

"He would have appreciated the irony," Tony said harshly.  
Pepper looked at her fiancée. "How is everyone?"  
Tony rubbed a tired hand across his face. "The little kids are all asleep, and so is Sprite. Angel and Wolverine got back a few minutes ago and locked themselves in separate bathrooms to shower. Scarlet refuses to leave Quicksilver's side, and everyone else is talking in Cyclops' and Beasts' room."  
"Did you see the Jarvis' video footage?" Asked Pepper quietly.  
"Yes," Tony growled.  
"I don't understand why he didn't stop," Pepper said in distress. "I really don't...what did we miss?"  
"It wasn't out fault, Pepps," said Tony. He sat down next to her and rubbed her shoulders soothingly. "We didn't know. That kid was the most mysterious out of all of them."  
"But if he...I mean...the others..." Pepper couldn't voice the sudden doubt and read in her heart. It was too awful.  
"This is exactly what Fury wanted," Tony growled. "Make us mistrust them so that they no longer feel safe. No, Pepper. These are our kids he won't..." Tony realized what he'd said and he stopped short.  
"They are, aren't they?" Said Pepper quietly.  
"Since that day you gave them enough food to feed twenty Asgard warriors," Tony said. She laughed breathlessly. 

"We've got a reason why," Clint suddenly said from the doorway. He entered the room followed by all the other Avengers.  
"What do you mean?" Asked Pepper.  
Clint opened up his computer and pointed to the profile of a young man named John Allerdyce.  
"Mentally unstable, mild split-personality disorder with violent tendencies," Natasha read aloud. "Pyromaniac. Should be approached with caution. Several charges of arsenal..." Natasha stopped. "Is this from SHIELD?" She asked.  
"No," Clint said.  
"Beast unblocked all of the things related to him that were online," Bruce said tiredly. "No need to hide him anymore."  
"Fury..." Steve began, "He'll know the kid died here. What will he do?"  
Clint and Natasha shook their heads. No one had any answers.

Quicksilver woke up because everything just damn hurt. Especially his hands. He opened his eyes and saw his sister.  
Scarlet smiled at him. "Role reversal, bro."  
"Scar," he sat up, wincing from moving his hands, "Scar! I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean it..."  
"I know," she whispered. She looked down at her hands. "Mom always said it so I guess it was natural it would slip out."  
"Wanda," Quicksilver whispered, he reached for her with one of his bandaged hands. "I love you, sis. I'll never hurt you intentionally, ever. I promise. And I'm not going anywhere without you."  
Scarlet started crying and flung her arms around him. He hugged her back gently. Remembering...  
_  
Wanda's powers has become pretty evident from a young age. Their dad has left soon after. His mother had always blamed her daughter. Quicksilver - then only Pietro - has kept his own powers carefully hidden from their vengeful, abusive mother. She blamed Wanda for everything. And, one day, Scarlet just wanted her mother to keep away from her. _

_ "Bitch!" Her mother had screamed.  
"Leave her alone!" Quicksilver had shouted.  
"Get away from me!" Scarlet had yelled, flinging up her hands. Only Quicksilver and Scarlet had remained in their place at the sudden rush of power. The sickening crunch of their mother's head hitting the wall was a constant source of nightmares for both of them. They'd never forgotten. They'd never gone back. Search their names and "charged with murder" came up - until Beast erased them from the internet...until SHIELD came along.  
_  
Scarlet pulled away from Quicksilver and whispered, "I'm scared."  
"Me too," he told her. "Me too."

Steve heard a scream in the middle of the night and woke up with a start. His floor was above the kids' floor, his room directly above some of their bedrooms. The scream was cut off and he waited. His mind told him it was one of the kids having a nightmare, but his heart told him to check it out.  
"Jarvis," he called to the computer softly, pulling on a shirt (red, white and blue from Tony the resident trickster), "What was that?"  
"I assume that it was one of the younger girls having a nightmare," Jarvis replied.  
"You assume?" Steve prompted walking into his small (and completely superfluous) living room.  
Steve swore he heard the AL sigh. "They have permanently disabled my systems in all of their rooms and their living room." 

Steve nodded and walked down the stairs. He stopped right outside of the door and listened. He could hear the tentative chords of the guitar the Spark's sweet voice.  
_ A lullaby_, Steve thought. He felt like an intruder but didn't want to leave.  
You don't need to calm anyone down, but you can come in if you want, He heard X's tired voice in his mind.  
Who was it? Steve asked.  
Phoenix. A nightmare - but not about Pyro  
Is everyone okay? Steve asked. He knew that X knew what he meant.  
Sort of X paused; Steve heard the guitar stop, heard Spark talking quietly to her cousin. Is it bad, X asked Steve, That I am more upset about how badly hurt Quicksilver is, instead I being upset that Pyro died?  
It's not bad, Steve assured him. You care more about Quicksilver. Pyro always kept to himself...did you know about the split-personality?  
What wasn't quite what it was, said X. At least, he didn't think of himself that way. It was more...he'd suddenly lose control. It was as if he didn't feel pity. It felt as if X were shrugging in his mind. I don't know, Steve. I just don't know. He always rubbed people the wrong way but we couldn't just leave him.  
I understand, said Steve.  
But if I'd been awake... X continued. 

Steve thought of Hulk smashing up the house. Thought of how many people could have been hurt. Thought about how, as awful as it sounded, one dead was better than many.  
Maybe thought X.  
It wasn't your fault, thought Steve.  
X was silent then thought, G'night Captain.  
Steve heard a door open and close. He waited until he was sure all the kids were asleep before heading back upstairs.

Scott, Alex?  
What is it Charles?  
I wasn't going to tell anyone because...well...you know how shaky Phoenix's power is but I feel you two should be warned because you're more or less in charge.  
Gentle, mental protests from both of them that Charles ignored.  
You need to know what she dreamt...

The next morning, Tony Stark noticed someone missing from breakfast and went to the roof to find her. He'd just stepped outside when she spoke:  
"Do you believe in fate?" 

Tony Stark looked at the speaker - a girl on the brink of womanhood standing on roof of the tower formerly known as Stark tower. She was looking out over the skyline of New York City, playing with something on a silver chain around her neck. Playing with the miniature arc reactor her had given her as a gift.  
"Maybe," he replied.  
"That's a noncommittal answer," she said.  
"Maybe I'm a noncommittal kind of guy," Tony told her, he cracked a smile, "Just ask Pepper."  
"You have to be committed to some things," she replied quietly. Twisting, twisting the chain around her fingers.  
Tony frowned. "What's wrong little Spark?"  
"I...I don't think we can stay," Spark told him.  
Tony's frown deepened, "Why not?"  
Spark turned to face him, her dark brown eyes sad, "Because Fury is going to kill us if we do." 

"What do you mean?" Demanded Tony.  
"I should say Fury is going to get us killed or have people kill us or annoy us so much that we'll run away and get killed! I dunno! Just Fury and secrets and dying and I'm so damn tired of running!" She burst out. Electricity jumped from the necklace to her hand, setting her short hair on end.  
"How will leaving make any of that better?" Tony demanded. "Just stay, dammit. We're not going to let Fury hurt any of you." Tony grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look into his eyes, ignoring the slight fizz on his skin from the electricity. "I promise, Spark." He told her firmly. She hugged him.  
Tony was surprised, but hugged her back. 


	12. Chapter 13

Author's Note: Don't own Marvel. Though I'd love to work for them…

**Chapter 13: Ultimatum  
**  
Two days passed.

Natasha and Clint were sent on missions. Thor went home to Asgard, promising to be back in a few days. Pepper went to California to close a business deal. 

Phoenix, Storm, and Nightshade managed to get excited about approaching Halloween.

And Charles collapsed midway through breakfast.

He'd been carrying an empty bowl to the kitchen and had just dropped to the floor. Spark had already been on her way to his side when he suddenly screamed. Phoenix began to scream and cry as well and Spark let out a yelp before clamping her hand over her mouth.  
"Why is he screaming?!" Angel shouted.  
"Shit," Spark breathed, tears pricking her eyes. She ran to X's side and grabbed him. "Charles! Charles, look at me please..."  
"Does he usually scream?" Steve demanded. Bruce had picked up Phoenix and was trying to soothe her.  
"Never," Wolverine said grimly.  
Charles' suddenly stopped screaming but curled up into fetal position. Steve knew something was very wrong by the way that tears began to stream down Spark's face.  
"He's not..." She said in a chocked voice.  
"Let me try," said Wolverine. He went over and grabbed Charles a bit roughly on the shoulder, whispering something to him. The other boy didn't respond and he swallowed hard.  
"Cyclops..." Wolverine said, but the other boy shook his head. "If you two can't..."  
Spark moved Charles so that his head was on her lap and held him for the twenty minutes it took for his eyes to snap open. After that, it took another very stressful five minutes for him to finally come to himself. Then he shuddered and began to cry.  
Phoenix crawled into his lap.

"What happened?" Tony asked.  
"I...don't know..." X gasped out. "But there was something or someone different and it was terrified..." He simply shook his head.  
Alex, I thought these were never coming back, Charles thought-whispered to Spark.  
Spark hugged him tight from behind.

Several hours later, Fury knocked on the door.  
"Who is it, Jarvis?" Asked Tony as he concentrated most of his attention on trying to beat Iceman at Super Mario Smash Bros.  
"Director Fury of SHIELD."  
"What?!" Tony shouted. Iceman won the game, but Tony was too worked up to care. "What is that...!"  
"Stop," said X suddenly. He closed his eyes and put his hand on his temple, listening. Everyone in the room froze. 

X took a deep breath and opened his eyes.  
Then he looked around the room and met the worried gazes of Cyclops, Spark, Wolverine, Beast, Iceman and Angel.  
_They have to be speaking with one another,_ thought Tony. Emotions flickered across each of their faces to arrive at a mixture of resignation and annoyance. 

"What's going on?!" Demanded Sprite, looking from teenager to teenager.  
"Nothing terrible," Spark told her. "Keep the younger kids upstairs, ok?"  
"You stay up here too, Panther," Cyclops added.  
They all made as if to go downstairs and Tony spluttered, "Wait! Stop! You're not seriously letting him in here, are you?"  
"We don't want you on SHIELD's bad side because of us," said Spark.  
"And we might as well get this over with," added Wolverine irritably. 

Tony and Steve exchange exasperated looks and Bruce made as of to follow the other youths then stopped.  
"It may be prudent for me to stay up here," Bruce admitted to Tony. Tony clapped him on the back. "Keep an eye on our kids, big guy." 

Our kids.

Neither Steve nor Bruce contradicted him. 

Scarlet entered the room from Quicksilver's bedroom and looked around.  
"What's going on?" She asked Bruce. He took a deep breath and explained.

X opened the door and, without even inviting Fury inside, said, "I know what you came to say. We'll take the deal but we're modifying it. Quicksilver and Scarlet don't need to come either. And no, that doesn't mean we bring Sprite and Panther with us instead. You get to talk and..." Here X gulped but plowed on, "...talk and test me, Cyclops, Spark, Beast, Angel and Iceman and that's than enough of us. And then we get the papers today."  
Fury looked steadily at the boy. "You get the papers tomorrow," Fury told them.  
"Tomorrow before noon," said Cyclops, "Or none of us go."  
Fury nodded, secretly impressed.  
"What the hell is going on?!" Demanded Tony, rushing down the stairs.  
"If they're going to HQ," said Steve, who felt as if he had at least partially understood, "Then one of us is coming with them."  
"You got to come if all the kids came but since that isn't the case..." Said Fury.  
"It's okay, Captain," Iceman said with a trace of his usual smile, "We'll be fine." 

The youths mentioned filed outside, Angel only ducked into another room to grab his coat and sling it over his shoulders. That simple movement broke Tony's heart...and made Quicksilver and Scarlet, watching from behind a half-closed door feel awful.  
You guys would hate this, X told the twins. Just look after the younger kids. Please.  
Don't worry, we're not going anywhere, they thought back. X felt a little better as he climbed into the black car with a SHIELD agent, but not much. In his car, Spark played with her necklace, and Angel nervously tapped a tune on his leg.  
Tell me we'll be fine, Charles, Spark thought.  
You'll be fine, he reassured her.  
That's not the same thing.

They drove to the harbor and were, to their complete surprise, driven to a completely normal and very old looking storage facility. They exited and cars and were ushered into elevators that went down, and down, and down. Angel felt his heart rate shoot up as they went further from the sky. Fury motioned that each youth should go with a different agent. Exchanging looks with each other they split up willingly. Fury was surprised to no end and, once again, impressed.

X was left with Fury.  
"X," the director told him, "I need your help."  
"Interrogating a prisoner," X finished for him. "But why..." Fury let him see exactly what they were dealing with and X gulped at the mental image of the bug-like aliens from six months before.  
"Oh..." Said X.  
"Yeah," said Fury. "We don't speak Bug."


	13. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Don't own Marvel

**Chapter 14: That Other Battle I Talked About Ages Ago  
**  
"We just want to see how strong your laser is!" The scientist said, frustrated.  
"It's too dangerous," Cyclops said firmly, his arms crossed and his eyes tightly shut. They hadn't yanked off his visor yet, but they were getting there.  
"Then we're literally going to get nowhere," the scientist said, exasperated.  
Cyclops - suddenly feeling very much like Scott Summers and not at all like a potential super-hero - hoped they'd get tired of him and go bother someone else. He hated feeling like a science experiment as much as any of the others. Just because he was calmer in the face of adversary didn't mean it didn't bother him!

Spark gave the buildings' personal power generator an appreciative glance. "Nice. Stark Green Technology?"  
"He gave us a discount," one of the technicians said. "Er...I am sorry about this but can you...?"  
"Zap it with my powers?" She guessed. "I guess I could divert it through me and then back into the building if you really wanted. But why? Just to see?"  
"We want to measure how much energy you can take," another man said matter-of-factly.  
Spark nodded. She went over to one of the thickly insulated wires that carried electricity to the rest of the complex_. I can give you a show,_ she thought. _I might as well enjoy this.  
_ She wrapped the wires of a voltmeter one technician was holding around her arm. Then she placed her hands flat on the thick wires. It buzzed with power and energy under her hands. She drew the streams of electrons through her hands and felt her eyes begin to glow a dim red. The Voltmeter began to go crazy.

"Why do you guys even have a room with environmental controls?" Asked Iceman.  
"Equipment testing," one of the scientists said. "All SHIELD gear is built to withstand extreme environments – our agents are trained for everything."  
"Huh," said Iceman. "Weird." He clapped his hands together and made the poor woman jump. "So just freeze things until it gets too hot?"  
"Basically," she admitted.  
"I can do that," Iceman said. He walked into the room and it sealed shut behind him. He felt the temperature begin to drop and he smiled. No reason why he shouldn't enjoy himself. He let his powers go and the room filled with ice and snow. He felt the temperature begin to rise, 50 degrees, 55, 60, 70... Some snow melted and he concentrated. The ice froze again and he heard something crack.  
"Wow...kid stop!"  
Iceman stopped. "What's wrong?"  
"Water got inside the locking mechanism and when you froze it again it broke the door..." 

Iceman went over and pushed gently, then more firmly. The door refused to open.  
"Uh..." Iceman swallowed hard, suddenly afraid. "Am I stuck in here?"  
"Don't worry, kid," the woman said soothingly. He could hear movement on the other side of the microphone. "We'll get you out. In the mean time...?"  
Iceman sighed, "Might as well." He muttered. He began to make snow-men of the Avengers and was almost done with a mini-Hulk when he realized...  
"The snow's melting as soon as it forms," he told them, watching rivers of water form around his shoes. "How hot is it in here?"  
"The room is going through a cycle," the scientist explained. "It's nearing 90."  
"How hot will it get!?" Iceman demanded.  
"Hotter than..." The scientist trailed off and Iceman felt panic for the first time in a long time. The bracelet on his wrist beeped worridly as it passed 95...  
"I can get heat stroke and die," Iceman said as steadily as he could, his heart pounding in his chest.  
The woman didn't answer; there was only static. Bobby cursed the fact that the microphone wasn't water-proof. Bobby blasted the place with snow and it instantly melted.  
"Let me out!" He shouted. There was no reply and his vision began to swim. He looked at the bracelet: 115 degrees.  
"Help!" He shouted. The temperature continued to rise and he tried to use his powers. It evaporated instantly. "Help me!"  
He curled up on the floor and concentrated on not passing out.  
Charles! he thought desperately. No reply.  
"Alex. Scott," he whispered so quietly even he couldn't hear. Calling for the friends that has always been his family. "Help me, please."

"...state of the art. SHIELD only has the best," the agent finished proudly. Beast sat in front of the surveillance equipment and shook his head in admiration.  
"Amazing," he breathed.  
"Hey, Beast," said another agent.  
"Yes?" He told the woman.  
"I'm Agent Hill, I work for Fury," she introduced herself.  
Beast raised an eyebrow but said, "Pleasure."  
"Would you like to work for SHIELD?" She asked.  
"I...what?"  
"Your work with erasing your friends - and yourself - from all electronic records was impressive. We could use a mind like yours."  
"I..." Beast swallowed hard. "I would like to accept your offer. But I cannot if I don't know if my family will be treated...treated right."  
Hill nodded. "You know that now we will just want you more."  
"Enough to get us immunity papers?" Beast asked.  
"Those will be done by tomorrow whether or not you accept the offer," Hill said. "Consider it an act of good faith."  
Beast nodded and looked at the screens again, looking at images from around the world.  
"I...I accept your offer," Beast said.

Angel was flying in the wind tunnel used to test the quinjet.

It felt marvelous.

"Turn it up higher!" He called to the agents manning the tunnel.  
"You sure, kid?" Asked the man.  
"Yeah! Go ahead." 

There were no wires hooked up to him. No blood samples or needles. As far as tests went, this wasn't bad. His father had done worse. Not that he was happy to be in the wind tunnel but it was better than nothing. They turned up the air and he was blown back. He fought the wind, muscles straining and righted himself. He wasn't going to let the scientist win.  
"More, I can take it!" He shouted to them. He heard them murmur; impressed. More air blasted out of the vents and he strained against it. But that time the wind was too strong. He was blown backwards along the wind tunnel and slammed into the back wall.  
Someone swore and the air was turned off. Angel slid to the ground, dizzy and disorientated.

Wolverine wasn't amused. They wanted him to do a fake-duel with the SHIELD agents did they? Well, he would talk with them and all but he wasn't going to fight anyone. Sullen, he crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and systematically ignored everyone until they gave up and went to whisper about him in the corner. But Wolverine had enhanced hearing.  
"I can hear you!" He snapped.

X took a deep breath and entered the observation room as the guards kept calling it. It had a one-way mirror that allowed him to see inside and didn't let the prisoner see him.  
The prisoner, in this case, was an alien creature that looked like a cross between a giant cricket and a lizard; except that it walked on two legs. And it had pincers where there should be a mouth.  
"What do you want to know?" X asked Fury.  
"We picked this guy up setting military targets on fire in North Carolina," Fury said. "We need to know how many there are, how they got on earth and how do we get rid of them."  
"Kill them?" Asked X.  
"Not necessarily," said Fury. "But we can't very well send him home with a ton of information about earth."  
"Tough but fair...I guess..." Said X.  
He went up to the window and put a hand on his temple.

Fury watched the boy curiously. His little move with the Hulk had proved that this X was powerful. And he wasn't lying, he needed the boy's help.  
"His mind is weird," X told him, "Like reading a different language."  
"Can you get anything?" Fury asked.  
"Give me a sec..." The youth gasped as the creature suddenly turned and looked straight at him. "Second." X finished weakly. "Fury its telepathic."  
"What do you mean?" Asked Fury.  
"Their species is telepathic, it wouldn't have been able to communicate with you even if it wanted," X explained breathlessly. 

"What do you know?" Fury asked, watching X carefully. Sweat was gathering on his hairline, and his hands were shaking.  
"He was with...two others...no, hundreds more...they were part of the group we killed in LA. Three got away...been laying low until now..."  
"What changed?" Fury asked.  
"Trying to find a way home," he said. "They picked up...I don't understand. It's blocking me. It-" 

The creature suddenly stood and X cried out in pain, clutching his head. Fury nodded to one of the guards and it turned a dial, turning on the electric chains that gave the creature a hearty shock.  
It clacked angrily and came right up to the glass.  
"Stop!" X cried. "Stop! You're making it mad. You're..."  
X screamed and collapsed. Fury motioned that the guards should stop and dropped down by the boy.  
"X?" He asked. The youth gingerly sat up and looked at Fury. Fury stared; his eyes were now completely black.  
"I should...thank you...Director for introducing me to this...specimen," X said in a monotone. Fury stood and drew his gun.  
"Ah...you're smart," X continued, also standing. "But don't worry. Now we can communicate. I have no desire to be...electrocuted for an army that is long dead. What do you want to know?"  
"How did you get here?" Fury asked. Behind his back he motioned for the agents to have their weapons ready.  
"The Asgardians are not the only ones with a gate," X said.  
"Are more coming?"  
"Always!" The creature behind the glass hissed as X talked. "Humans are only vermin. More will come. If not us, then someone else. Always. Strange that you haven't employed this strange creature in your army."  
"You mean the boy?" Asked Fury, momentarily distracted.  
"And his companions...ah. They are feared, hated even."  
The alien clacked, laughing. 

X's black eyes looked at Fury steadily. "And he has so much potential. Pity he was only taught to fear it. However, it makes this easier."  
X's hand went to his temple and Fury heard a guard shout a warning. Fury dropped to the ground as one guard began shooting everything indiscriminately. Agents called to one another and one managed to pull an alarm before he suddenly went ram-rod stiff and walked like a robot to opens the creature's cage.  
"No!" Shouted Fury. But then another agent was shouting at him, looking at him with the same pitch-black eyes as X.  
_More mind control_, Fury thought, remembering Loki._ I hate mind control.  
_

The creature burst out of its cage and began marching down the corridor, X trailing behind him like a shadow. An emergency door slid shut, effectively trapping Fury in the observation room. The men that had been controlled went limp.  
Fury put two fingers on one agent's artery; there was a steady pulse.  
"Get me Agent Hill!" He shouted to the conscious agents.

Spark felt the sudden change in how the buildings power was being used the way a bird might feel a change in the air. Frowning, she gently untangled herself from the electric currents and stepped back.  
She looked at the dumbfounded expression of scientists.  
"That was amazing," one said a bit faintly.  
She grinned. Amazing wasn't the usual reaction but she would gladly take it.  
"Thanks," she told him. "I've been practicing."  
"Does it hurt?" Another asked.  
"No," she said. "It feels like my skin is...fizzing? Like a carbonated drink."  
"I think you should go talk to Agent Hill," the first agent asked.  
"Ok, I guess," Spark paused, thinking about the power drain. "Um...is there something in the building that is supposed to use..?" But before she could finish alarms began to blare. 

Spark's heart clenched. _Please let it not be the boy's being stupid.  
_ "That's the escaped prisoner alarm," an agent said. One partner began talking furiously over a walkie-talkie and the technician motioned to Spark, "Let's get out of here."  
"What about my family?" She demanded.  
"They'll be led out, too. Come on!" 

The alarms had Wolverine on his feet with his claws extended.  
"What's that!?" He demanded.  
"Evacuation alarm," the annoying scientist replied, looking nervously at the bone claws.  
"How do I get out?" Wolverine asked.  
"Follow me," an agent said. He set off down the hall at a brisk trot, hand on his gun. Wolverine followed, claws at the ready. The scientists followed.  
They passed a room with too much shouting and Wolverine stopped. Something felt very wrong. 

"C'mon kid!" The agent said, ear against a walkie-talkie. "We've got an escaped alien on the loose!"  
Wolverine ignored him, and entered the room just as a female scientist yelled, "We got it!"  
Three men broke open a door and the next thing they knew, they'd been pushed to the ground as a muscular young man rushed past them. Wolverine emerged from the heated room, furious, with Iceman completely unconscious in his arms.  
"What the hell?!" Wolverine shouted.  
"It was an accident!" The woman tried to explain.  
"No time, let's go! Shift it people!" The agent that had been with Wolverine shouted. 

Wolverine ran, but not towards the exit. He ran back the way he'd come and burst into a bathroom he'd noticed earlier - one that said "emergency showers." He turned the water on as cold as he could and stood there with Iceman in his arms.  
In seconds, his arms were numb and his skin prickling but the youth in his arms remained limp in his arms.  
"Please, Bobby," Wolverine hissed in his ears. "Please wake-up." 

Wolverine's teeth began to chatter and he gently set Iceman on the ground; propping him against the wall so that he wouldn't drown. Then he popped into the other shower, blasted hot water for ten seconds and stepped into the main room, shaking water off his leather coat. The lady scientist and that one agent were standing there. Wolverine lost it.  
"Why the hell would you lock him in that room?! Were you trying to kill him or was it some sick experiment?"  
"It was..." The scientist tried to begin but Wolverine plowed right over her.  
"It was stupid and cruel and...!"  
Something cold and hard hit him from behind and Wolverine spun around, claws extended. There, leaning against the door to the shower, soaking wet and exhausted, was Iceman. 

"Relax, Wolfy," he told his friend, playing with another snowball, "It was actually an accident."  
Wolverine gave him a relieved bro-hug and then pulled away embarrassed. Iceman grinned. 

Angel came skidding around the corner, panting slightly and holding a walkie-talkie.  
"Guys!" He called, "Beast says that one of those alien-bug things from months ago is mind controlling X and all these other people and is on its way up! We've got to stop it before it goes and calls an invasion to earth or something."  
"How does Beast now this?" Asked Iceman. He tried to walk and stumbled and almost fell. Wolverine steadied him and slung one of Iceman's arms over his shoulders. Angel went to grab his other side, still explaining, "He's in SHIELD's center of operations or something."  
"C'mon," the agent said. He motioned to the hallways. "We've really got to go."  
"Haven't you been listening?" Wolverine asked. "We're not leaving without our friends." 

The scientist shook her head in amazement. "Good luck, kids," she said and began to run. The agent ground his teeth together and then motioned in the opposite direction; "The alien's this way."

X could see, but couldn't control. He could feel his body walking, could feel his mind telling those agents to fight each other, to open doors and close them again. He was controlling them but the alien was controlling him.  
He rounded a corner and continued marching, the alien who had him on a strong mental leash behind him. Suddenly, the alien roared in pain and X screamed as the pain was transferred to him with an almost savage pleasure by the alien.  
X was turned around and he saw the worried and surprised face of Cyclops. 

Perfect, thought the alien.  
And, suddenly terrified of what would happen, Charles Xavier broke free of the mental shackles long enough to think Scott, run!  
But the alien regained control and suddenly Cyclops went ram-rod stiff. Charles felt the shock in his mind and then the mind-blowing terror as the bug-alien made X made Cyclops to blast apart the wall.  
They began walking through the walls as Cyclops was forced to use his powers to open a path that circumvented the SHIELD agents running towards them.  
Charles! Scott thought desperately, I don't want to hurt anyone! Please!  
I'm trying! Charles replied. He struggled against the alien but it suddenly picked him up and bashed him against the wall. X's energy left him in the pain from the blow and he once again began walking. The alien tightened its iron grip on his mind. Cyclops' mind cried out in anger as wall after wall fell to the red-laser that came from his eyes. 

Another wall came down and there were electric explosions. SHIELD technicians cried out and scrambled away as the alien curiously regarded SHIELD's center of operations.  
The alien flinched and then clacked angrily as bullets suddenly rained down on his head, aimed for the only part that wasn't covered in the scale-like exoskeleton. Cyclops was made to aim at the shooter.

At the last moment, they recognized him.

X and Cyc managed to shake off the mind control long enough so that Cyclops only shot the gun out of the young man's hands. A precision shot that wouldn't have been possible a month ago.  
Beast hissed in pain, and leapt over the computer consoles to hide as he kicked off his shoes. He grabbed three guns, one in each foot and in one hand, and once again leapt up - doing a handstand with one hand to shoot down the alien's delicate eyes. But suddenly his body clenched and he dropped all the guns, righted himself and walked over to the computer.  
Charles!? Beast shouted, recognizing mind control.  
It's not me! Charles protested. Or it is – but I'm not controlling me!  
Beast stared at his own hands as he began entering codes that were not human. X mentally screamed and struggled to break the alien's grip on Beast as Beast was forced to call for the alien's reinforcements. Finding it too hard to control three people at once, the alien had X knock Beast out by hitting him around the head with a piece of scrap metal. The young man collapsed on a computer, and X was too horrified at himself to struggle as the alien continued his march to freedom with his two prisoners.

They rounded another corner and found themselves before a wall of SHIELD agents - led by a young man with wings, another with bone claws protruding from his knuckles and a third who was covered in a layer of frost.  
"X! Cyc! Stop!" Angel shouted.  
Look out! X managed to think at them before Cyclops shot red energy. But even with mind-control, Cyclops wouldn't hurt his friends and he managed to hit the ceiling instead. Agents scattered as the roof collapsed and the alien found himself with a very angry Wolverine on his back. Wolverine stabbed between the exoskeleton plates, finding soft tissue not unlike that of a lizard's underbelly. The alien screeched as it began to bleed. He lost his mental grip on Cyclops and made X grab hold of Wolverine's mind. Wolverine found himself leaping at Angel. The two collapsed in a tangle of arms, legs and wings. X felt himself once again grab Cyclops' mind but then they all fell as the ground beneath their feet was coated in a sheet of ice.  
Iceman was kneeling on the floor, covering everything in ice. Fury came running up the hallways as promptly skidded across the ice and landed on the heap that was Wolverine and Angel. The alien made Cyclops blast another hole in a wall and ushered X and Cyclops through. 

Suddenly, the last wall that separated the alien from freedom collapsed inward and there stood a very angry Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America. Hulk roared.  
X felt the alien make Cyclops' aim.  
"No!" A young woman's voice cried and Spark went sliding across the ice and leapt between Cyclops and the Avengers.  
Alex! Scott screamed. But only Charles heard.

The red energy hit her square in the chest.

Alex screamed and put her hand out, planting her feet firmly on the ground and wrapping the other around the sparking reactor on her necklace. 

And she didn't die. She didn't collapse. 

Screaming, she absorbed and converted the energy. The electric lights around them began to explode from the sheer amount of electricity surging through them.  
Something too fast to see rammed into Cyclops; forcibly closed his visor before knocking them both to the ground. Quicksilver and Cyclops fell in a tangle on the ground. Scarlet raised the alien into the air with enough force to smash him against the ceiling and then sent him crashing to the ground.  
"Duck!" Shouted Iron Man. Scarlet dove to the ground and Iron Man let loose. The alien was only a smoking corpse on the ground. 

Angel, Wolverine and Fury finally managed to get up and Fury went to prod the dead thing with his foot. Beast came running down the hall and stared at the dead thing in his path before telling Captain America, "Took you long enough. I sent for you guys when the thing first got out!"  
"We had to kill its two buddies outside first," Steve answered, handing Hulk some pants as he shrank into Bruce Banner. 

"Alex!" Shouted Cyclops and he ran to his cousin's side.

She shakily got to her knees and said, "I'm okay...I'm...wow. That was...wow."  
"I'm so sorry," Cyclops said, hugging her, "I could see what I was doing but I couldn't stop."  
"I'm sorry too!" Called X from the other side of the room, he attempted to climb over the alien, still talking. "It was using me to control everyone else! I didn't even know I..." 

The next things happened almost simultaneously.  
The alien jerked in a last death spasm. X fell from its back. And a young SHIELD agent let loose his last round. One bullet hit X in the back.  
He screamed as he hit the ground.  
Fury flew at the agent and yanked the gun from his grip, shouting angrily. Banner was on his knees next to the youth, shouting for someone to call 911 as Charles sobbed breathlessly, "I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs..."

Then Charles blacked out. 


	14. Chapter 15 and Epilogue

Author's Note: I don't own Marvel.

Here's the end everyone! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing this story. If you want more from this alternate-alternate universe, please review and let me know.

Also, check out some of my other stuff if you like Star Trek, Merlin, the Hobbit and Hunger Games!

**Chapter 15: And Then Some **

Two Weeks Later

"Let's see it then!" Quicksilver called upstairs. "The food is getting cold, X!"  
The elevator doors opened and X glared at his friend from a brand new wheelchair.  
Quicksilver nodded, mildly impressed. "That's pretty sweet looking, actually. All sleek and modern...Stark?"  
"Who else?" X laughed. "It's goes pretty fast actually but I don't want to test that..."  
"Safety features?" Wolverine asked.  
I'm not helpless, X sent the thought to everyone's mind.  
"Mind control powers working for you, then?" Asked Scarlet.  
"It's strange," said X thoughtfully. "If the alien hadn't forced me to do all those things, I never would have realized just how much I could do."  
"Next time leave me out of it," Cyclops said. "I already knew I could blow holes in things."  
"But I would have never realized that I could stop you," said Spark. Cyclops shuddered. He knew that she'd been completely fine, but he was still having nightmares about that. 

"Sir," said Jarvis. "Mr. Pabbie, is at the door."  
"Pabbie!" Storm and Phoenix ran to greet the friendly Stark security guard.  
Tony went to greet his friend and felt X's eyes on him.  
"I brought the papers," Pabbie told Tony.  
"What papers?" Asked Nightshade.  
Pepper grinned and said, "Jarvis, get all the kids down here."  
"Certainly, Ms. Potts," said Jarvis. 

"Hmm," said Tony. He went up to Pepper and gave her a quick kiss. "We're going to have to get Jarvis to change that soon." Pepper blushed and pulled away.  
"Not right now," she chided him.  
Panther rolled his eyes.  
The rest of the kids came down stairs and out of doors. They greeted Pabbie happily and a few grabbed toast off the kitchen table.  
"X-men, assemble!" Tony said, clapping his hands. All the kids exchanged confused glances.  
"Didn't we already get our immunity papers from SHIELD?" Asked Angel.  
"This is different," X assured him, his smile growing. 

"So...ah..." Said Tony. He suddenly looked uncomfortable. "How about someone else start."  
"Really, Stark," said Natasha. "I recall this being your idea."  
Pepper laughed and said, "We love having all of you here. It makes our tower seem a little less empty."  
"Actually it makes it seem a bit small sometimes," muttered Clint.  
"And before you say anything," Bruce interrupted Scarlet, "We know you kids have a past, and we know you don't have perfect control over your powers."  
"But we want to continue helping you," said Steve.  
"We would like," said Tony, "If...Er...if you would that is - to adopt you all." 

There was a moment of shocked silence. 

"What!?" Said seven voices.  
"I knew it!" Crowed Sprite.  
"Yes!" Squealed Storm and Phoenix.  
"Yay!" Nightshade cheered. Panther just rushed and gave a very surprised Natasha a hug.  
Stark held up the papers Pabbie had brought. "I have excellent lawyers," said Tony.  
"And knowing SHIELD can be helpful," said Clint.  
"The only thing missing are your signatures and your names," said Pepper, ruffling through the documents. 

"Jean," squeaked Phoenix.  
"Uh...excuse you?" Said Bruce.  
"No!" She shook her head, red curls bouncing everywhere. "My name was Jean Gray. And now it's Jean..." She looked up at Pepper. "Can it be Stark?"  
Tears gathered in Pepper's eyes as she hugged the little girl close. "Of course, sweetie," she whispered. Clearing his throat. Tony wrote the change of name onto a document and has Jean write her name.  
"I was Kurt Wagner!" Nightshade said. "Can I be Stark too?" 

"I spoke with Jane," Thor boomed. He knelt before the Storm and took the little girl's hands. "Would you take the name Odinson, in honor of my past? You would be under our care - but continue living here if you so desired."  
"Yes!" Said Storm, throwing her arms around Thor. "Yes! Yes! My first name's Ororo!"  
"Oreo," Quicksilver smirked. 

"I was Catherine - Kitty - Pryde," said Sprite. "But can I...I mean."  
Steve put a hand on her shoulder. "Kitty, would you like to take my last name?" He asked her. Kitty's response was a hug. 

Tony looked expectantly at Panther.  
The boy swallowed and then said in a low voice. "I was Jasper - Jasper Springfield but..."

He looked at Natasha and she looked at him steadily before telling Tony. "Give him my last name." She looked at Panther, "You don't look Russian kid, but you sure fight like one." Jasper hugged her again. Clint smiled knowingly and put a hand on Natasha's back. 

All of the younger set done, Tony looked at the teenagers.  
"So, kids, what do you think?"  
"This is going to sound weird but most of us are thinking we want to keep our last names," said X.  
"You can keep them but still be our kids," said Tony, scanning the paper. "Nothing in here that says you have to have our last name."  
"Charles Xavier," said X.  
"Alexandra Summers," said Spark.  
"Scott Summers," said Cyclops.  
"Warren Worthington," said Angel.  
"Hold on, stop," said Iceman. He looked at Angel. "You want to keep your dad's name?"  
"If I change it, he wins," said Angel fiercely. "I want to keep it and show him that his worst mistake was driving me away." 

Iceman gave him a high-five and looked at Tony.  
"I'm Bobby - Robert - Drake," he told him. "But...I think I should change my name...I sorta faked my death."  
"What do you want for a last name?" Asked Tony, crossing his fingers under the table.  
"Put down Robert Drake Stark," said Bobby, "My old name works as a middle name, don't you think?"  
Tony have him a hand-shake before pushing a paper forward for him to sign.  
"Logan James," said Wolverine. "But...Being Snowman's brother wouldn't be too bad." Pepper went to hug him but pulled back. Logan hugged her instead. Tony grinned as he turned to the twins. 

"We can't keep our names," said Scarlet. "And you need to know...I accidently killed our mother."  
"It doesn't matter," said Natasha. "You're part of the Avengers' clan now."  
"You literally cannot be more dangerous than me," said Banner. "And...uh..." He got suddenly embarrassed and ruffled his hair nervously. "If you two want..."  
"Pietro and Wanda Maximoff," said Quicksilver, "But put us down as Peter..."  
"And Scarlet Banner," finished Scarlet. "That past is gone."  
Bruce hugged both teens and they didn't pull away.

"Last but not least," said Pepper, looking at Beast.  
"Henry McCoy," said Beast. "And I'll keep my name although I really appreciate the offer to take one of yours."  
Tony cleared his throat, and shuffled the papers. "Has everyone signed their paper?" He asked.  
A few people stepped forward to sign and Phoenix chirped happily, "And soon we'll have a baby sister!"  
"Wait...what?" Said Tony blankly.  
Phoenix skipped over to Pepper and place a hand on her stomach. "There's a baby in Pepper's stomach...why is it in there?"  
Tony and Pepper looked at each other in surprise. Clint began to laugh.  
"And that's a pretty sure prophecy," Charles added.

**Epilogue - Christmas Day**

"Ta-da!" Said Stark, turning on the light of the garage.  
Scott, Logan, Warren, Peter, Bobby and Alex felt their mouths drop open. Five motorcycles and one convertible BMW stood gleaming besides Tony's cars and Steve's motorcycle.  
"Sweet!" Said Bobby as he ran to a motorcycle with icicles drawn on the side.  
"It's beautiful," said Alex, jumping in the BMW. 

Logan revved the motor and Pepper protested, one hand on her growing stomach. Storm came running down, wearing her new princess costume and everyone laughed.  
Then a small alarm began to sound. 

"Really?" Clint groaned. "It's Christmas, damn it."  
"Global terrorists don't wait for holidays," said Natasha.  
"Not terrorists," said Charles. "We've got a robot hit-squad from outer space."  
"Seriously?!" Said Bobby. "That sounds cool."  
"Comrades!" Thor boomed. "Who will answer this call?" 

The teens on the motorcycles grinned at each other.  
"Dad?" Alex asked, grinning at Tony. "Can we do this one solo?"  
Tony smiled at her; "Keep the comm open."  
"Will do!" Said Cyclops. He raised his voice, "Night! Our suits, please?" Nightshade popped into the room loaded down with skin-tight suits and Kitty slid down from the roof holding masks. Beast and Scarlet hopped into Spark's car. Jarvis raised the garage door. 

"Be back in time for lunch!" Shouted Pepper.  
"We promise!" They chorused. Then Quicksilver ran out the door, leaving his motorcycle for another day when style would trump speed, and Angel took flight after him. Wolverine led the charge on motorcycles. Spark grinned at the Avengers before bringing up the rear.  
"This will be fast," Jean told Charles.  
X grinned, Pick up pie on the way home, guys. Clint ate all of it last night.  
Priorities, Charles. thought Cyclops.  
A happy mental laugh was their only reply.  
Tony hit a button to light up the A on their tower - their newly assembled family was on the job. 

(Author's Note: See how I worked in the title everyone? It's because the first Avengers' movie was "Avengers Assemble" but I was proud of my last-sentence-of-story explanation of the title. Thanks for reading!)


End file.
